John F. Kennedy

"If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him."

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

"The world knows that America will never start a war. This generation of Americans has had enough of war and hate... we want to build a world of peace where the weak are secure and the strong are just."

"Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind."

"We must use time as a tool, not as a couch."

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

"A child miseducated is a child lost."

"A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today - and in fact we have forgotten."

"America has tossed its cap over the wall of space."

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

"Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction."

"I am sorry to say that there is too much point to the wisecrack that life is extinct on other planets because their scientists were more advanced than ours."

"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."

"If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."

"If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity."

"In a time of domestic crisis, men of goodwill and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics."

"It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war."

"It might be said now that I have the best of both worlds. A Harvard education and a Yale degree."

"Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce."

"Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans - born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace."

"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."

"Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all."

"My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government - he promised Dad he'd go straight."

"Once you say you're going to settle for second, that's what happens to you in life."

"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."

"Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource."

"Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures."

"Politics is like football; if you see daylight, go through the hole."

"The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy."

"The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth."

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

"The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were."

"The tax on capital gains directly affects investment decisions, the mobility and flow of risk capital... the ease or difficulty experienced by new ventures in obtaining capital, and thereby the strength and potential for growth in the economy."

"The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings."

"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."

"Things do not happen. Things are made to happen."

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

"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."

"Unconditional war can no longer lead to unconditional victory. It can no longer serve to settle disputes... can no longer be of concern to great powers alone."

"War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today."

"We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world or to make it the last."

"When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses."

"Why should man's first flight to the moon be a matter of national competition? Why should the United States and the Soviet Union, in preparing for such expeditions, become involved in immense duplications of research, construction and expenditure?"