135 Quotes By John F. Kennedy


Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
John F. Kennedy on forgiveness

The best road to progress is freedom's road.
John F. Kennedy on freedom

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 on freedom

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 on freedom

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.
John F. Kennedy on freedom

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 on freedom

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 on freedom

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 on freedom

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 on future

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 on future

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 on future

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 on future

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 on future

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 on future

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 on future

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 on god

The pay is good and I can walk to work.
John F. Kennedy on good

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

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

Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.
John F. Kennedy on great