John F. Kennedy Quotes About Politicians

• 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

  Inspirational, Thank You, Thanksgiving

  Kennedy, John F. (1964). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963”, p.836, 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

• Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Peace, Freedom

  Address on first anniversary of Alliance for Progress, 13 Mar. 1962

• Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Life, Strength

  "Twenty Sermons". Book by Phillips Brooks, p. 330, 1886.

• Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

  John F. Kennedy

  Funny, Forgiveness, Witty

  John F. Kennedy, Dominique Enright (2003). “The Wicked Wit of John F. Kennedy”, Michael O'Mara Books

• Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Being Yourself, Freedom

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Success, Encouraging

  Speech to United Negro College Fund, Indianapolis, Ind., 12 Apr. 1959

• 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.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Presidential, Intelligence

  John F. Kennedy's Speech at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, www.jfklibrary.org. June 14, 1956.

• Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

  John F. Kennedy

  Inspirational, Leadership, Educational

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

• 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

  Mom, Mother, Growing Up

  John F. Kennedy, Dominique Enright (2003). “The Wicked Wit of John F. Kennedy”, Michael O'Mara Books

• Political action is the highest responsibility of a citizen.

  John F. Kennedy

  Responsibility, Political, Citizens

• 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

  Knowledge, Science, Thinking

  Remarks at dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners of the Western Hemisphere, Washington, D.C., 29 Apr. 1962

• Political sovereignty is but a mockery without the means of meeting poverty and illiteracy and disease. Self-determination is but a slogan if the future holds no hope.

  John F. Kennedy

  Determination, Mean, Self

  Address to the United Nations General Assembly, delivered 25 September 1961

• 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

  Wisdom, Government, Justice

  Speech at White House, 27 May 1961, in New York Times 28 May 1961, p. 39

• 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 poet and the politician have this in common: their greatness depends on the courage with which they face the challenges of life.

  John F. Kennedy

  Greatness, Challenges, Faces

• Perhaps scientists have been the most international of all professions in their outlook... Every time you scientists make a major invention, we politicians have to invent a new institution to cope with it-and almost invariably, these days, it must be an international institution.

  John F. Kennedy

  Government, Politician, Scientist

• 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

  Sisterhood, Want, Empowering Women

  Kennedy, John F. (1962). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1961”, p.797, Best Books on

• Some of my colleagues who are criticized today for lack of forthright principles-or who are looked upon with scorn as compromising "politicians"-are simply engaged in the fine art of conciliating, balancing and interpreting the forces and factions of public opinion, an art essential to keeping our nation united and enabling our Government to function.

  John F. Kennedy

  Art, Government, Today

• All of us in the Senate live in an iron lung-the iron lung of politics, and it is no easy task to emerge from that rarified atmosphere in order to breathe the same fresh air our constituents breathe.

  John F. Kennedy

  Air, Order, Iron

  John F. Kennedy (1964). “Profiles In Courage”

• Dont teach my boy poetry, an English mother recently wrote the Provost of Harrow. Dont teach my boy poetry; he is going to stand for Parliament. Well, perhaps she was rightbut if more politicians knew poetry, and more poets knew politics, I am convinced the world would be a little better place to live on this Commencement Day of 1956.

  John F. Kennedy

  Mother, Boys, Would Be

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