John F. Kennedy Quotes | GloryQuotes

John F. Kennedy Quotes About War

We prefer world law in the age of self-determination to world war in the age of mass extermination.

John F. Kennedy

The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution.

John F. Kennedy

There is always inequality in life. Some men are killed in a war and some men are wounded and some men never leave the country. Life is unfair.

John F. Kennedy

Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both.

John F. Kennedy

It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.

John F. Kennedy

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.

John F. Kennedy

Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.

John F. Kennedy

I look forward to a great future for America - a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose.

John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy Quotes About Life

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

John F. Kennedy

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.

John F. Kennedy

Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life.

John F. Kennedy

For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.

John F. Kennedy

If anyone is crazy enough to want to kill a president of the United States, he can do it. All he must be prepared to do is give his life for the president's.

John F. Kennedy

The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy.

John F. Kennedy

I am sorry to say that there is too much point to the wisecrack that life is extinct on other planets because their scientists were more advanced than ours.

John F. Kennedy

A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living. Today's military rejects include tomorrow's hard-core unemployed.

John F. Kennedy

More Quotes by John F. Kennedy

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

John F. Kennedy

The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.

John F. Kennedy

Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.

John F. Kennedy

It might be said now that I have the best of both worlds. A Harvard education and a Yale degree.

John F. Kennedy

If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.

John F. Kennedy

My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

John F. Kennedy

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

John F. Kennedy

And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.

John F. Kennedy

A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

John F. Kennedy

History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.

John F. Kennedy

In a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.

John F. Kennedy

We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world or to make it the last.

John F. Kennedy

My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government - he promised Dad he'd go straight.

John F. Kennedy

We cannot expect that all nations will adopt like systems, for conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.

John F. Kennedy

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.

John F. Kennedy

Our growing softness, our increasing lack of physical fitness, is a menace to our security.

John F. Kennedy

Sure it's a big job; but I don't know anyone who can do it better than I can.

John F. Kennedy

There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.

John F. Kennedy

When written in Chinese, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.

John F. Kennedy

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

John F. Kennedy

I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President, who happens also to be a Catholic.

John F. Kennedy

Do you realize the responsibility I carry? I'm the only person standing between Richard Nixon and the White House.

John F. Kennedy

Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.

John F. Kennedy

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

John F. Kennedy

We believe that if men have the talent to invent new machines that put men out of work, they have the talent to put those men back to work.

John F. Kennedy

Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process.

John F. Kennedy

Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.

John F. Kennedy

I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it.

John F. Kennedy

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.

John F. Kennedy

Now we have a problem in making our power credible, and Vietnam is the place.

John F. Kennedy

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.

John F. Kennedy

I'm always rather nervous about how you talk about women who are active in politics, whether they want to be talked about as women or as politicians.

John F. Kennedy

I don't think the intelligence reports are all that hot. Some days I get more out of the New York Times.

John F. Kennedy

The United States has to move very fast to even stand still.

John F. Kennedy

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.

John F. Kennedy

Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

John F. Kennedy

We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it.

John F. Kennedy

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

John F. Kennedy

Politics is like football; if you see daylight, go through the hole.

John F. Kennedy

The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.

John F. Kennedy

Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.

John F. Kennedy

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.

John F. Kennedy

Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

John F. Kennedy

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.

John F. Kennedy

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

John F. Kennedy

When we got into office, the thing that surprised me most was to find that things were just as bad as we'd been saying they were.

John F. Kennedy

We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch - we are going back from whence we came.

John F. Kennedy

The best road to progress is freedom's road.

John F. Kennedy

Browse 108 quotes attributed to John F. Kennedy, listed in the source data as a American President, organized around themes such as War, Life, Freedom. Use the topic links to explore similar quotes, or browse the full author collection in one place.