Let historians not record that when America was the most powerful nation in the world we passed on the other side of the road and allowed the last hopes for peace and freedom of millions of people to be suffocated by the forces of totalitarianism. And so tonightto you, the great silent majority of my fellow AmericansI ask for your support.

Let us understand: North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that.

Failure isn't falling down. Failure is not getting up after you have fallen down.

The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.

The Italians . . . you can't find one who is honest.

I don't give a damn about the civilians.

The only time in the history of the world that we have had any extended periods of peace is when there has been a balance of power. It is when one nation becomes infinitely more powerful in relation to its potential competitors that the danger of war arises.