Top 51 famous inspirational quotes by John F. Kennedy

Biography : 

John Fitzgerald Kennedy, commonly known as "Jack" or by his initials JFK, was an American politician who served as the 35th President of the United States from January 1961 until he was assassinated in November 1963.

Famous quotations:

1. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
2. There's an old saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan.... I'm the responsible officer of the Government.
3. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
4. Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
5. Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.
6. War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.
8. If more politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world would be a little better place in which to live.
9. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
10. The voters selected us, in short, because they had confidence in our judgement and our ability to exercise that judgement from a position where we could determine what were their own best interest, as a part of the nation's interest.
11. The true democracy, living and growing and inspiring, puts its faith in the people - faith that the people will not simply elect men who will represent their views ably and faithfully, but will also elect men who will exercise their conscientious judgment - faith that the people will not condemn those whose devotion to principle leads them to unpopular courses, but will reward courage, respect honor, and ultimately recognize right.
12. And only the very courageous will be able to keep alive the spirit of individualism and dissent which gave birth to this nation, nourished it as an infant, and carried it through its severest tests upon the attainment of its maturity.
13. We celebrate the past to awaken the future.
15. In a world of danger and trial, peace is our deepest aspiration, and when peace comes we will gladly convert not our swords into plowshares, but our bombs into peaceful reactors, and our planes into space vessels. "Pursue peace," the Bible tells us, and we shall pursue it with every effort and every energy that we possess. But it is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.
16. My call is not to those who believe they belong to the past. My call is to those who believe in the future.
17. I believe in an America where the rights that I have described are enjoyed by all, regardless of their race or their creed or their national origin - where every citizen is free to think and speak as he pleases and write and worship as he pleases - and where every citizen is free to vote as he pleases, without instructions from anyone, his employer, the union leader or his clergyman.
18. One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.
19. I can assure you that every degree of mind and spirit that I possess will be devoted to the long-range interests of the United States and to the cause of freedom around the world.
20. For I can assure you that we love our country, not for what it was, though it has always been great -- not for what it is, though of this we are deeply proud -- but for what it someday can, and, through the efforts of us all, someday will be.
22. 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.
23. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
24. Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
25. 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.
26. The best road to progress is freedom's road.
27. 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.
28. Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.
29. 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.
30. When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters. One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
31. A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.
32. Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.
33. Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.
34. Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.
35. Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.
36. 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.
37. Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
38. The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.
39. 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.
40. 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.
41. The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.
42. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
43. A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.
44. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things. Not because they are easy, but because they are hard.
45. To those whom much is given, much is expected.
46. Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.
47. There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.
48. Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all.
49. All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetimes on this planet. But let us begin.
50. When written in Chinese, the word 'crisis' is composed of two characters - one
    represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
51. Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.

For more quotes, refer John F. Kennedy- Wikiquote.

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