John F. Kennedy

"Our responsibility is not just to the present, but to future generations."

"These are extraordinary times. And we face an extraordinary challenge."

"Character is not the only thing that counts in this world, but character is what counts most."

"In the last analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet."

"No one has ever accused me of being reticent."

"We as Americans have a responsibility to help others achieve their potential."

"The greatest threat to freedom is an absence of criticism."

"Our problems are challenging, but not insolvable."

"Liberty without learning is always in peril and learning without liberty is always in vain."

"To know the issues is to understand the times."

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

"We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves."

"Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names."

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

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

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

"The future is not something which will happen to us. It is something which we will happen to."

"We choose to go to the moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard."

"Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country."

"If not us, who? If not now, when?"

"The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment."

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

"The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining."

"Domestic policy can only defeat us; foreign policy can kill us."

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

"In a democracy, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts."

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

"The pay is good and I can walk to work."

"I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit."

"A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors and the men it remembers."