John F. Kennedy Quotes

Because others have let us down, it is now our duty to face the hard truths and do the right thing--no matter the personal cost.

And, if there was any responsibility in refusing to obey, he was willing to accept it.

A conscientious man ought not to regard what may happen to him in this world.

Nothing deters a good man from what honor requires of him

If we believe a thing to be bad, and if we have a right to prevent it, it is our duty to prevent it and to damn the consequences.

Neither pleasure nor pain should enter as motives when one must do what must be done.

She had looked her duty courageously in the face and found it a friend - as duty ever is when we meet it frankly.

Integrity is never painless.

Justice is the sum of all moral duty.

I think the greater responsibility, in terms of morality, is where leadership begins.

There is no truth without responsibility following in its wake.

Courage that grows from constitution often forsakes a man when he has occasion for it; courage which arises from a sense of duty acts; in a uniform manner.

In any ethical situation, the thing you want least to do is probably the right action.

There is nothing in the universe that I fear, but that I shall not know all my duty, or shall fail to do it.

The greatest want of the world is the want of men - men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.

The courage of New England was the courage of conscience.

We were elected to lead and sometimes we just have to do the right thing.

I was wrong to expose myself to disaster and dishonor … I was lucky to escape … I shall leave here to sacrifice my position and my life in order to make the truth known.

Moderation in the pursuit of truth is no virtue. Vigilance in the defense of public ethics is no vice.

doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right

... a man's first duty is to his own conscience and honor; the party and country come second to that, and never first.

The ends do not always justify the means

We have, all of us, our duties. Every action of our lives, and every word that we utter, will either conduce to or detract from the discharge of our duty.

We are not only responsible for what we do but also for what we do not do.

What makes a man is when you go against your own instincts to do to the right thing.