John F. Kennedy Quotes

Once people who have been deprived of basic freedom taste a little of it, they want all of it.

We can't impose freedom, but we can eliminate roadblocks to freedom, and to allow free societies to develop.

[Freedom] is the greatest of political goods. I do not say freedom is the greatest of all goods: the best things come from within they are such things as creative art, and love, and thought. Such things can be helped or hindered by political conditions, but not actually produced by them; and freedom is, both in itself and in its relation to these other goods the best thing that political and economic conditions can secure.

I am a believer in liberty. That is my religion — to give to every other human being every right that I claim for myself, and I grant to every other human being, not the right — because it is his right — but instead of granting I declare that it is his right, to attack every doctrine that I maintain, to answer every argument that I may urge — in other words, he must have absolute freedom of speech.

The human's being right to do as he pleases without interfering with someone else's rights is a formula defining rights prior to social legislation.

I believe in Liberty for all men: the space to stretch their arms and their souls, the right to breathe and the right to vote, the freedom to choose their friends, enjoy the sunshine, and ride on the railroads, uncursed by color; thinking, dreaming, working as they will in a kingdom of beauty and love.

Why is freedom such a hard sell? That's the question. In this country, why has the idea of individual liberty and responsibility become such a hard sell? That's something I never thought would happen here.

Freedom is when one hears the bell at seven o'clock in the morning and knows it is the milkman and not the Gestapo.

The problem with this world is that there isn't enough liberty and freedom.

Liberty in thought and action is the only condition of life, growth and well-being: Where it does not exist, the man, the race, and the nation must go down.

Any nation or government that deprives an individual of freedom is in that moment committing an act of moral and spiritual murder. Any individual who is not concerned about his freedom commits an act of moral and spiritual suicide.

Freedom, remember, is not the same as liberty.

Just as man must have liberty to think and speak, so he must have liberty in food, dress, and marriage, and in every other thing, so long as he does not injure others.

I find freedom to be the most important issue facing any human being today, because without freedom, then life is pointless. The more dependent you become on centralized power, the more easily you are lead around.

I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.

I regard freedom of expression as the primary right without which one can not have a proper functioning democracy.

To become self-aware, people must be allowed to hear a plurality of opinions and then make up their own minds. They must be allowed to say, write and publish whatever they want. Freedom of expression is the most basic, but fundamental, right. Without it, human beings are reduced to automatons.

It had never crossed my mind that a man could think he had the right to stop me from being who I was.

The rightful claim to dissent is an existential right of the individual.

I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free... so other people would be also free.

Having the right to show up and speak are basic to survival, to dignity, and to liberty.

One of the eternal truths is that happiness is created and developed in peace, and one of the eternal rights is the individual's right to live.

I'm a big advocate of freedom: freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of thought.

America's greatest contribution to the world is its concept of democracy, its concept of freedom, freedom of action, freedom of speech, and freedom of thought.

Ordinary Chinese can actually make choices about their own lives which wasn’t possible 25 years ago.