John Fitzgerald Kennedy, often referred to by the initials JFK and Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963. Profoundly inspirational John F. Kennedy quotes on greatness, courage, country, education, and change will challenge the way you think.
Famous John F. Kennedy Quotes
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
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names. – John F. Kennedy
The Republican Party can lead any person to believe that their promises will be fulfilled in the future. They follow the Hitler line – no matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as truth. – 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
Let’s talk to one another instead of about one another. – 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
The best road to progress is freedom’s road. – John F. Kennedy
First, what does truth require? It requires us to face the facts as they are, not to involve ourselves in self-deception; to refuse to think merely in slogans. If we are to work for the future of the city, let us deal with the realities as they actually are, not as they might have been, and not as we wish they were. – John F. Kennedy
The complacent, the self-indulgent, the soft societies are about to be swept away with the debris of history. Only the strong, only the industrious, only the determined, only the courageous, only the visionary who determine the real nature of our struggle can possibly survive. – John F. Kennedy
Never let your fears hold you back from pursuing your hopes. – John F. Kennedy
Ask not that the journey be easy; ask instead that it be worth it. – John F. Kennedy
In a time of turbulence and change, it is more true than ever that knowledge is power. – John F. Kennedy
Too often we… enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. – John F. Kennedy
Israel was not created in order to disappear – Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom. – John F. Kennedy
Whatever one’s religion in his private life may be, for the officeholder, nothing takes precedence over his oath to uphold the Constitution and all its parts – including the First Amendment and the strict separation of church and state. – John F. Kennedy
A revolution is coming – a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough – but a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability. – John F. Kennedy
This is not a time to keep the facts from the people-to keep them complacent. To sound the alarm is not to panic but to seek action from an aroused public. For, as the poet Dante once said: ‘The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality. – John F. Kennedy
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate. – John F. Kennedy
when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do the same. – John F. Kennedy
Now the trumpet summons us again – not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are; but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, ‘rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation’, a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself. – John F. Kennedy
Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal. – John F. Kennedy
A boy spends his time finding a girl to sleep with. A real man spends his time looking for the one worth waking up to. – John F. Kennedy
No President should fear public scrutiny of his program. For from that scrutiny comes understanding; and from that understanding comes support or opposition and both are necessary. I am not asking your newspapers to support the Administration, but I am asking your help in the tremendous task of informing and alerting the American people. For I have complete confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens whenever they are fully informed. – John F. Kennedy
It is in the American tradition to stand up for one’s rights–even if the new way to stand up for one’s rights is to sit down. – John F. Kennedy
Political action is the highest responsibility of a citizen. – John F. Kennedy
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 rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God. – John F. Kennedy
To those whom much is given, much is expected. – 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
Justice delayed is democracy denied. – John F. Kennedy
Things do not happen. Things are made to happen. – 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
Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind. – John F. Kennedy
The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened. – John F. Kennedy
Effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. – John F. Kennedy
The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie–deliberate, contrived and dishonest–but the myth–persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Too often we hold fast to the cliches of our forebears. We subject all facts to a prefabricated set of interpretations. We enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought. – John F. Kennedy
The problems with this world cannot possibly be solved by sceptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need people who can dream of things that never were. – John F. Kennedy
If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help. – John F. Kennedy
There is little value in insuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it. And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment. – John F. Kennedy
I would rather be accused of breaking precedents than breaking promises. – John F. Kennedy
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. – John F. Kennedy
A tax cut means higher family income and higher business profits and a balanced federal budget. – John F. Kennedy
Sometimes party loyalty asks too much. – John F. Kennedy
Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty. – John F. Kennedy
A great change is at hand, and our task, our obligation, is to make that revolution, that change, peaceful and constructive for all. – John F. Kennedy
Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside – John F. Kennedy
Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly. – John F. Kennedy
So let us begin anew — remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate. Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us. – John F. Kennedy
So, let us not be blind to our differences – but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. – John F. Kennedy
Those who do nothing are inviting shame as well as violence. Those who act boldly are recognizing right as well as reality. – John F. Kennedy
The state is the servant of the citizen, and not his master. – John F. Kennedy
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth. – John F. Kennedy
One person can make a difference, and everyone should try. – John F. Kennedy
Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future. – John F. Kennedy
No responsibility of government is more fundamental than the responsibility of maintaining the highest standard of ethical behavior for those who conduct the public business. – John F. Kennedy
By calling attention to ‘a well-regulated militia,’ ‘the security of the nation,’ and the right of each citizen ‘to keep and bear arms,’ our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy… The Second Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason, I believe the Second Amendment will always be important. – John F. Kennedy
This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor. – John F. Kennedy
Democracy may not be perfect, but at least I don’t have to build a wall to keep my people in. – John F. Kennedy
Don’t pray for an easy life, pray to be a stronger man. – 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
There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long-range risks of comfortable inaction. – John F. Kennedy
Only an educated and informed people will be a free people. – John F. Kennedy
I will splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it into the winds. – John F. Kennedy
Hold fast to the best of the past and move fast to the best of the future. – John F. Kennedy
Our task is not to fix blame for the past, but to fix the course for the future. – John F. Kennedy
Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom. – John F. Kennedy
Economic growth without social progress lets the great majority of the people remain in poverty, while a privileged few reap the benefits of rising abundance. – John F. Kennedy
There can be no progress if people have no faith in tomorrow. – John F. Kennedy
We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future. – John F. Kennedy
So long as freedom from hunger is only half achieved, so long as two thirds of the nations have food deficits, no citizen, no nation can afford to be satisfied. We have the ability, as members of the human race, we have the means, we have the capacity to eliminate hunger from the face of the earth in our lifetime. We only need the will. – John F. Kennedy
We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives. – John F. Kennedy
The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all. – John F. Kennedy
Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other. – John F. Kennedy
Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all. – John F. Kennedy
A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. – John F. Kennedy
If you want to truly understand something, try to change it. – 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
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 cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission. – John F. Kennedy
The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth. – John F. Kennedy
When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man’s concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. – John F. Kennedy
Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce. – John F. Kennedy
Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. – 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
If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. – 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
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
My brother Bob doesn’t want to be in government – he promised Dad he’d go straight. – 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
Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource. – John F. Kennedy
I am the Democratic Party’s candidate for president who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters – and the church does not speak for me. – John F. Kennedy
Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder. – John F. Kennedy
The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were. – 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
All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner!’ – 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
The world knows that America will never start a war. This generation of Americans has had enough of war and hate… we want to build a world of peace where the weak are secure and the strong are just. – 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
Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both. – John F. Kennedy
I just received the following wire from my generous Daddy; Dear Jack, don’t buy a single vote more than is necessary. I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay for a landslide. – 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
Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan. – 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
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
Why should man’s first flight to the moon be a matter of national competition? Why should the United States and the Soviet Union, in preparing for such expeditions, become involved in immense duplications of research, construction and expenditure? – 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
Our problems are man-made; therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. – John F. Kennedy
Modern cynics and skeptics… see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing. – 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
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
In a time of domestic crisis, men of goodwill and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics. – John F. Kennedy
Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life. – John F. Kennedy
A man does what he must – in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures – and that is the basis of all human morality. – John F. Kennedy
To state the facts frankly is not to despair the future nor indict the past. The prudent heir takes careful inventory of his legacies and gives a faithful accounting to those whom he owes an obligation of trust. – John F. Kennedy
The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds. – John F. Kennedy
The pay is good, and I can walk to work. – John F. Kennedy
The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are. The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission. – John F. Kennedy
We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it. – John F. Kennedy
We prefer world law in the age of self-determination to world war in the age of mass extermination. – John F. Kennedy
We stand today on the edge of a new frontier – the frontier of the 1960’s – a frontier of unknown opportunities and perils – a frontier of unfulfilled hopes and threats. – 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
Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us. – John F. Kennedy
I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. – 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 tax on capital gains directly affects investment decisions, the mobility and flow of risk capital… the ease or difficulty experienced by new ventures in obtaining capital, and thereby the strength and potential for growth in the economy. – John F. Kennedy
I think ‘Hail to the Chief’ has a nice ring to it. – John F. Kennedy
I hope that no American will waste his franchise and throw away his vote by voting either for me or against me solely on account of my religious affiliation. It is not relevant. – 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
It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war. – John F. Kennedy
The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining. – 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
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
We must use time as a tool, not as a couch. – John F. Kennedy
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it. – John F. Kennedy
For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s futures. And we are all mortal. – John F. Kennedy
Now we have a problem in making our power credible, and Vietnam is the place. – 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
I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it. – John F. Kennedy
Unconditional war can no longer lead to unconditional victory. It can no longer serve to settle disputes. It can no longer concern the Great Powers alone. For a nuclear disaster, spread by wind and water and fear, could well engulf the great and the small, the rich and the poor, the committed and the uncommitted alike. Mankind must put an end to war–or war will put an end to mankind. – John F. Kennedy
The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution. – John F. Kennedy
No one has been barred on account of his race from fighting or dying for America, there are no white or colored signs on the foxholes or graveyards of battle. – John F. Kennedy
Khrushchev reminds me of the tiger hunter who has picked a place on the wall to hang the tiger’s skin long before he has caught the tiger. This tiger has other ideas. – John F. Kennedy
Politics is like football; if you see daylight, go through the hole. – John F. Kennedy
A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today – and in fact we have forgotten. – 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
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. – John F. Kennedy
