John F. Kennedy Quotes

All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talent.

The erosion of equal opportunity is among the greatest threats to our exceptionalism as a nation. But it also provides us with an exciting and historic opportunity: to help more people than ever achieve the American Dream.

[E]very man, everywhere, should be free to develop his talents to their full potential - unhampered by arbitrary barriers of race or birth or income.

I don't believe in quotas. America was founded on a philosophy of individual rights, not group rights.

Every American deserves to live in freedom, to have his or her privacy respected and a chance to go as far as their ability and effort will take them - regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or economic circumstances.

In our insistence upon equality of opportunity has our system advanced beyond all the world.

Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions — it only guarantees equality of opportunity.

This is one country. It has become that way because all people who have come here had an equal right to develop their talent.

Give men opportunity and opportunity will give you men.

I speak to you only as an American who happens to be an American Negro and one who is proud of that heritage. We ask for nothing special. We ask only that we be permitted to compete on an even basis, and if we are not worthy, then the competition shall, per se, eliminate us.

We are building a country where a person's prospects are determined by their own initiative and hard work and not by the color of their skin, place of birth, gender, language, or income of their parents.

I want my kids to grow up in a world where everybody gets a fair shot.

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.

America is not another word for Opportunity to all her sons.

We live in a moment when the dream of equal opportunity is within reach.

I am the inferior of any man whose rights I trample under foot. Men are not superior by reason of accidents of race or color. They are superior who have the best heart-the best brain.

America can only live up to its potential when each and every American has the chance to live up to your potential, too.

I cannot consent to take the position that the door of hope - the door of opportunity - is to be shut upon any man, no matter how worthy, purely upon the grounds of race or color. Such an attitude would, according to my convictions, be fundamentally wrong.

There are positively no mental, physical or moral attainments too lofty for the Negro to accomplish if granted a fair and equal opportunity.

I believe in a free society, where aspiration and effort can make the difference in every life. Where your starting point is not your destiny and where your first chance is not your only chance.

We should begin by setting conscience free. When all men of all religions shall enjoy equal liberty, property, and an equal chance for honors and power we may expect that improvements will be made in the human character and the state of society.

A fair and just society offers equality of opportunity to all. But it cannot promise, and should not try to enforce, sameness.

The condition of your birth doesn't determine the outcome of your life. This is America.

(Natural Talent + Opportunity) Hard Work = Success

Justice means that we want life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all people.