John F. Kennedy Quotes About Country

• This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Presidential, Poverty

  Kennedy, John F. (1964). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963”, p.13, Best Books on

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

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Country

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

• A country is as strong, really, as its citizens. And I think that mental and physical health - mental and physical vigor - go hand in hand.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Strong, Thinking

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

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, War, Power

• 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

  Strength, Country, Military

  Kennedy, John F. (1964). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963”, p.817, Best Books on

• 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

  Country, Father, Military

• 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.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Freedom, 4th Of July

  Inaugural Address, 20 Jan. 1961

• Without debate, without criticism no administration and no country can succeed and no republic can survive.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Government, President

  Address to the American Newspaper Publishers, delivered 27 April 1961, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York

• Only in winter can you tell which trees are truly green. Only when the winds of adversity blow can you tell whether an individual or a country has steadfastness.

  John F. Kennedy

  Leadership, Country, Adversity

• We in this country, in this generation, areby destiny rather than choicethe watchmen on the walls of world freedom. We ask, therefore, that we may be worthy of our power and responsibility, that we may exercise our strength with wisdom and restraint, and that we may achieve in our time and for all time the ancient vision of peace on earth, good will toward men. That must always be our goal, and the righteousness of our cause must always underlie our strength. For as was written long ago: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Peace, Wall

  Undelivered Speech to the Dallas Citizens Council, delivered 22 November 1963, Trade Mart, Dallas, Texas

• For in a government of laws and not of men, no man, however prominent or powerful, and no mob however unruly or boisterous, is entitled to defy a court of law. If this country should ever reach the point where any man or group of men by force or threat of force could long defy the commands of our court and our Constitution, then no law would stand free from doubt, no judge would be sure of his writ, and no citizen would be safe from his neighbors.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Powerful, Men

  "Radio and Television Report to the Nation on the Situation at the University of Mississippi". September 30, 1962.

• After visiting these places, you can easily understand how that within a few years Hitler will emerge from the hatred that surrounds him now as one of the most significant figures who ever lived. He had boundless ambition for his country which rendered him a menace to the peace of the world, but he had a mystery about him in the way that he lived and in the manner of his death that will live and grow after him. He had in him the stuff of which legends are made.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Ambition, Years

  Diary entry on August 01, 1945. "Prelude to Leadership". Book by John F. Kennedy, 1995.

• I do ask every publisher, every editor, and every newsman in the nation to reexamine his own standards, and to recognize the nature of our country's peril. In time of war, the government and the press have customarily joined in an effort based largely on self-discipline, to prevent unauthorized disclosures to the enemy. In time of "clear and present danger," the courts have held that even the privileged rights of the First Amendment must yield to the public's need for national security.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, War, Mistake

  Address to the American Newspaper Publishers, delivered 27 April 1961, Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York

• Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolution, the first waves of modern invention and the first wave of nuclear power. And this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be part of it-we mean to lead it.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Mean, Space

  Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Program, delivered 12 September 1962, Rice Stadium, Houston, Texas

• As a great democratic society, we have a special responsibility to the arts. For art is the great democrat, calling forth creative genius from every sector of society, disregarding race or religion or wealth or color. What freedom alone can bring is the liberation of the human mind and a spirit which finds its greatest flowering in the free society. I see of little more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than the full recognition of the place of the artist.

  John F. Kennedy

  Music, Country, Art

• This is one country. It has become one country because all of us and all the people who came here had an equal chance to develop their talents. We cannot say to ten percent of the population that you can't have that right; that your children cannot have the chance to develop whatever talents they have; that the only way that they are going to get their rights is to go in the street and demonstrate. I think we owe them and we owe ourselves a better country than that.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Children, Thinking

  Civil Rights Address, delivered 11 June 1963

• And if we are to open employment opportunities in this country for members of all races and creeds, then the Federal Government must set an example. The President himself must set the key example. I am not going to promise a Cabinet post or any other post to any race or ethnic group. That is racism in reverse at its worst. So I do not promise to consider race or religion in my appointments if I am successful. I promise only that I will not consider them.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Successful, Opportunity

  Campaign speech, Wittenberg College, Springfield, Ohio, October 17, 1960.

• It's only when they join together in a forward movement that this country moves ahead.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Moving, Presidential

  "Remarks at Los Banos, CA at the Groundbreaking Ceremonies for the San Luis Dam". August 18, 1962.

• I see little more important to the future of our country and our civilization than the full recognition of the place of the artist.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Motivational, Country

• ... the United States was not built by those who waited and rested and wished to look behind them. This country was conquered by those who moved forward, and so will space.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Space, United States

  Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Program, delivered 12 September 1962, Rice Stadium, Houston, Texas

• There is always inequity in life. Some men are killed in war and some men are wounded; some men never leave the country, some men are stationed in the Antarctic and some are stationed in San Francisco. It's very hard in military or in personal life to assure complete equality. Life is unfair.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Life, Country

  News conference, 21 Mar. 1962

• In giving rights to others which belong to them, we give rights to ourselves and to our country

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Rights, Giving

  Kennedy, John F. (1963). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1962”, p.703, Best Books on

• 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

  Life, Country, War

• Most of us are conditioned for many years to have a political viewpoint - Republican or Democratic, liberal, conservative, or moderate. The fact of the matter is that most of the problems that we now face are technical problems, are administrative problems. They are very sophisticated judgments, which do not lend themselves to the great sort of passionate movements which have stirred this country so often in the past. - They deal with questions which are now beyond the comprehension of most men.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Past, Men

  Kennedy, John F. (1963). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1962”, p.422, Best Books on

• The essence of Vanderbilt is still learning, the essence of its outlook is still liberty, and liberty and learning will be and must be the touchstones of Vanderbilt University and of any free university in this country or the world. I say two touchstones, yet they are almost inseparable, inseparable if not indistinguishable, for liberty without learning is always in peril, and learning without liberty is always in vain.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Freedom, Responsibility

  Vanderbilt University 90th Anniversary Convocation Address, delivered 18 May 1963, Vanderbilt University Stadium, Nashville Tennessee

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