John F. Kennedy Quotes

Only a United States that is strong and immensely productive can help defend freedom in our world

The world has never known the freedom and liberty it did until the United States some 230 years ago - and if that light is extinguished, then it's over for the resolute world as well. There's nowhere else. That has been a tenet of American foreign policy from the beginning, the recognition of liberty and freedom as essential to the human condition as created by God.

To the patriots I say this: Take that long eternal look. Stand up for freedom, no matter what the cost. Stand up and be counted. It can help to save your soul-and maybe your country.

I'm representing the people of the United States and I'm going to represent them as somebody should represent them, not how they've been represented in the past where we lose to every single country.

There is no doubt in my mind when history was written, the final page will say: 'Victory was achieved by the United States of America for the good of the world.'

The United States and the freedom for which it stands, the freedom for which they died, must endure and prosper. Their lives remind us that freedom is not bought cheaply. It has a cost; it imposes a burden. And just as they whom we commemorate were willing to sacrifice, so too must we - in a less final, less heroic way - be willing to give of ourselves.

Our long-term security depends on our deep faith in liberty. And we'll continue to promote freedom around the world.

Whatever the result may be, I shall carry to my grave the consciousness that I at least meant well for my country.

I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free.

Unless liberty flourishes in all lands, it cannot flourish in one.

Let fortune do her worst, whatever she makes us lose, so long as she never makes us lose our honesty and our independence.

Liberty is not less a blessing, because oppression has so long darkened the mind that it can not appreciate it.

I saw how different life was on different sides of the same city. I saw the fear in the eyes of people who were not free. I saw the gratitude of people toward the United States for all that we had done. I felt goosebumps as I got off a military train and heard the Army band strike up 'Stars and Stripes Forever.'

You have just taken an oath of allegiance to the United States. Of allegiance to whom? Of allegiance to no one, unless it be God. Certainly not of allegiance to those who temporarily represent this great government. You have taken an oath of allegiance to a great ideal, to a great body of principles, to a great hope of the human race.

When you enlisted into the armed forces you swore to support and defend a Constitution that did not yet fully apply to you. You chose to endure the same sacrifices as your fellow comrades in arms to preserve the freedom of a land that was not yet fully yours. You accepted that you might have to pay the ultimate price on behalf of a nation to which you did not fully belong. Now, you will officially become citizens of the United States, a country to which each of you has already borne true faith and allegiance in your hearts and your deeds.

Call to mind the sentiments which nature has engraved on the heart of every citizen, and which take a new force when they are solemnly recognised by all:-For a nation to love liberty, it is sufficient that she knows it; and to be free, it is sufficient that she wills it.

Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial "outside agitator" idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider.

Today, the United States stands as a beacon of liberty and democratic strength before the community of nations. We are resolved to stand firm against those who would destroy the freedoms we cherish. We are determined to achieve an enduring peace - a peace with liberty and with honor. This determination, this resolve, is the highest tribute we can pay to the many who have fallen in the service of our Nation.

Even if our motives are presently misunderstood. We will reach the goal of freedom in Birmingham and all over the nation, because the goal of America is freedom.

If we want a free and peaceful world, if we want to make the deserts bloom and man grow to greater dignity as a human being - we can do it.

Remember that to change your mind and follow him who sets you right is to be none the less free than you were before.

Every man must be for the United States or against it. There can be no neutrals in this war; only patriots and traitors.

One day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

As long as the mind clings to belief, it is held in a prison.