John Fitzgerald Kennedy, often referred to by his initials JFK, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination near the end of his third year in office. Here are some motivational John F kennedy quotes.
“I would rather be accused of breaking precedents than breaking promises.”
“There are three things in life which are real: God, human folly and laughter. Since the first two are beyond our comprehension, we must do what we can with the third.”
“A police state finds that it cannot command the grain to grow.”
“Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.”
“This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor.”
“The state is the servant of the citizen, and not his master.”
“Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.”
“If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”
“Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.”
“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.”
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
“Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.”
“The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.”
“One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.”
“If not us, who? If not now, when?”
“No matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as the truth.”
Inspiring quotes from john f kennedy
“Our deep spiritual confidence that this nation will survive the perils of today – which may well be with us for decades to come – compels us to invest in our nation’s future, to consider and meet our obligations to our children and the numberless generations that will follow.”
“Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom.”
“There’s a plot in this country to enslave every man, woman, and child. Before I leave this high and noble office, I intend to expose this plot.”
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
“We dare not forget that we are the heirs of that first revolution.”
“The best road to progress is freedom’s road.”
“Those who do nothing are inviting shame as well as violence. Those who act boldly are recognizing right as well as reality.”
“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.”
“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.”
“Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.”
“Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.”
“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.”
“We must use time as a tool, not as a couch.”
“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.”
“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.”
“My fellow Americans, let us take that first step. Let us…step back from the shadow of war and seek out the way of peace. And if that journey is a thousand miles, or even more, let history record that we, in this land, at this time, took the first step.”
“All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days . . .nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.”
“I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty, which will protect the beauty of our natural environment, which will preserve the great old American houses and squares and parks of our national past and which will build handsome and balanced cities for our future.”
“The human mind is our fundamental resource.”
“The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.”
“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.”
“If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.”
“We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it.”
“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.”
“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.”
“The war against hunger is truly mankind’s war of liberation.”
“Remember that our nation’s first great leaders were also our first great scholars.”
“All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talent.”
“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.”
“No one has been barred on account of his race from fighting or dying for America, there are no white or colored signs on the foxholes or graveyards of battle.”
“The American, by nature, is optimistic. He is experimental, an inventor and a builder who builds best when called upon to build greatly.”
“World peace, like community peace, does not require that each man love his neighbor – it requires only that they live together with mutual tolerance, submitting their disputes to a just and peaceful settlement.”
“Our growing softness, our increasing lack of physical fitness, is a menace to our security.”
“War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.”
“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”
“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.”
“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.”
“The greater our knowledge increases the more our ignorance unfolds.”
“It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.”
“We believe that if men have the talent to invent new machines that put men out of work, they have the talent to put those men back to work.”
“We can say with some assurance that, although children may be the victims of fate, they will not be the victims of our neglect.”
“It’s only when they join together in a forward movement that this country moves ahead…”
“Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.”
“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.”
“The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.”
“A child miseducated is a child lost.”
“Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.”
“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.”
“The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.”
“There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.”
“Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.”
“Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life.”
“Every time that we try to lift a problem from our own shoulders, and shift that problem to the hands of the government, to the same extent we are sacrificing the liberties of our people.”
“The problems with this world cannot possibly be solved by sceptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need people who can dream of things that never were.”
“The wave of the future is not the conquest of the world by a single dogmatic creed but the liberation of the diverse energies of free nations and free men.”
“Every area of trouble gives out a ray of hope; and the one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable.”
“The unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion.”
“Let us resolve to be masters, not the victims, of our history, controlling our own destiny without giving way to blind suspicions and emotions.”
“I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, human liberty as the source of national action, the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas”
“We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others.”
“Peace does not rest in the charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of all of our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of human destiny are not beyond the reach of human beings.”
“With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking his blessing and his help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”
“Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.”
“A great change is at hand, and our task, our obligation, is to make that revolution, that change, peaceful and constructive for all.”
“Anyone who can solve the problems of water will be worthy of two Nobel prizes – one for peace and one for science.”
“There is too little public recognition of how much we all depend upon farmers as stewards of our soil, water and wildlife resources.”
“If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries.”
“We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us through that darkness to a safe and sane future.”
“Arms alone are not enough to keep the peace. It must be kept by men.”
“The stories of past courage… can offer hope, they can provide inspiration. But they cannot supply courage itself. For this each man must look into his own soul.”
“The only reason to give a speech is to change the world.”
“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project…will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind, or more important…and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish…”
“Above all, we are coming to understand that the arts incarnate the creativity of a free people.”
“I strongly believe in Scouting. … It’s a source of great strength to us.”
“For one true measure of a nation is its success in fulfilling the promise of a better life for each of its members. Let this be the measure of our nation.”
“Our task is not to fix blame for the past, but to fix the course for the future.”
“A rising tide (in the economy) lifts all boats.”
“In a time of turbulence and change, it is more true than ever that knowledge is power.”
“Lets talk to one another instead of about one another.”
“There is a connection, hard to explain logically but easy to feel, between achievement in public life and progress in the arts.”
“Democracy is never a final achievement. It is a call to an untiring effort.”
“The margin is narrow, but the responsibility is clear.”
“We are under exercised as a nation. We look instead of play. We ride instead of walk. Our existence deprives us of the minimum of physical activity essential for healthy living.”
“Truth is a tyrant-the only tyrant to whom we can give our allegiance. The service of truth is a matter of heroism.”
“Never before has man had such a great capacity to control his own environment, to end hunger, poverty and disease, to banish illiteracy and human misery. We have the power to make the best generation of mankind in the history of the world.”
“Knowledge of the oceans is more than a matter of curiosity. Our very survival may hinge upon it.”
“Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man”
“Never let your fears hold you back from pursuing your hopes.”
“Don’t pray for an easy life, pray to be a stronger man.”
“Persons are judged to be great because of the positive qualities they possess, not because of the absence of faults.”
“Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength of the nation.”
“A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.”
“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.”
“Great crisis produce great men and great deeds of courage.”
“We need men who can dream of things that never were.”
John F. kennedy Motivational quotes about life
“The rising tide lifts all the boats.”
“The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.”
“Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.”
“If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.”
“Not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or equal motivation, but they should have the equal right to develop their talent and their ability and their motivation, to make something of themselves.”
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.”
“Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.”
“We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world or to make it the last.”
“We must never forget that art is not a form of propaganda; it is a form of truth.”
“To those whom much is given, much is expected.”
“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.”
“You know nothing for sure…except the fact that you know nothing for sure.”
“Sure it’s a big job; but I don’t know anyone who can do it better than I can.”
“The ancient Greek definition of happiness was the full use of your powers along lines of excellence.”
“The supreme reality of our time is the vulnerability of our planet.”
“The pay is good and I can walk to work.”
“We will neglect our cities to our peril, for in neglecting them we neglect the nation.”
“Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet.”
“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.”
“Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all.”
“Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.”
“Too often we… enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.”
“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”
“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.”
“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.”
“History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.”
“We should not let our fears hold us back from pursuing our hopes.”
“probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house except for perhaps those times when Thomas Jefferson ate alone.”
“There can be no progress if people have no faith in tomorrow.”
“First I believe that this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon.”
“So, let us not be blind to our differences – but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved.”
“When power corrupts, poetry cleanses”
“Life in freedom is not easy, and democracy is not perfect.”
“Certain other societies may respect the rule of force–we respect the rule of law.”
“Failure has no friends.”
“Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don’t want them to become politicians in the process.”