Top 70 Edward Kennedy Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Health care is a right, not a privilege.”

— Edward Kennedy

Featured in: Rights Quotes

2. “What divides us pales in comparison to what unites us.”

— Edward Kennedy

3. “Have faith in yourself and in the future.”

— Edward Kennedy

4. “For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.”

— Edward Kennedy

5. “Integrity is the lifeblood of democracy. Deceit is a poison in its veins.”

— Edward Kennedy

6. “No one who works for a living should live in poverty.”

— Edward Kennedy

7. “We were taught never to give up, never to passively accept fate, but to exhaust every last ounce of will and hope in the face of any challenge.”

— Edward Kennedy

8. “Violence is an admission that one’s ideas and goals cannot prevail on their own merits.”

— Edward Kennedy

9. “There is no morality in the mushroom cloud. The black rain of nuclear ashes will fall alike on the just and the unjust. And then it will be too late to wish that we had done the real work of this atomic age, which is to seek a world that is neither red nor dead.”

— Edward Kennedy

10. “Health care is not just another commodity. It is not a gift to be rationed based on the ability to pay. It is time to make universal health insurance a national priority, so that the basic right to health care can finally become a reality for every American.”

— Edward Kennedy

11. “There is no safety in hiding. Like my brothers before me, I pick up a fallen standard. Sustained by the memory of our priceless years together, I shall try to carry forward that special commitment to justice, excellence and courage that distinguished their lives.”

— Edward Kennedy

12. “I get up very early in the morning. I enjoy the quietness, the stillness, the rawness in the winter and fall. It’s a special time.”

— Edward Kennedy

13. “Sometimes a party must sail against the wind. We cannot heed the call of those who say it is time to furl the sail. The party that tore itself apart over Vietnam in the 1960s cannot afford to tear itself apart today over budget cuts in basic social programs.”

— Edward Kennedy

14. “My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.”

— Edward Kennedy

15. “Individual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in – and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves.”

— Edward Kennedy

16. “Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law? Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty?”

— Edward Kennedy

17. “If I can leave a single message with the younger generation, it is to lash yourself to the mast, like Ulysses if you must, to escape the siren calls of complacency and indifference.”

— Edward Kennedy

18. “Separation of church and state cannot mean an absolute separation between moral principles and political power.”

— Edward Kennedy

19. “If you persevere, stick with it, wok at it, you have a real opportunity to achieve. If you do your best and keep a true compass, you’ll get there.”

— Edward Kennedy

20. “The core values of our constitution are at the heart of our nation’s progress.”

— Edward Kennedy

21. “I hope for an America where we can all contend freely and vigorously, but where we will treasure and guard those standards of civility which alone make this nation safe for both democracy and diversity.”

— Edward Kennedy

22. “In fact, the legal system is in part responsible for their very size and growth. And too often when the individual finds himself in conflict with these forces, the legal system sides with the giant institution, not the small businessman or private citizen.”

— Edward Kennedy

23. “The Constitution does not just protect those whose views we share; it also protects those with whose views we disagree.”

— Edward Kennedy

24. “We need the breast and the brightest to- umm the best and the brightest...”

— Edward Kennedy

25. “We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we made.”

— Edward Kennedy

26. “She’s a wonderful, wonderful person, and we’re looking to a happy and wonderful night – ah, life.”

— Edward Kennedy

27. “It’s better to send in the Peace Corps than the Marine Corps.”

— Edward Kennedy

28. “I hate to see a young man get ahead on the basis of a famous family name.”

— Edward Kennedy

29. “For all my years in public life, I have believed that America must sail toward the shores of liberty and justice for all. There is no end to that journey, only the next great voyage. We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make.”

— Edward Kennedy

30. “Don’t sacrifice your political convictions for the convenience of the hour.”

— Edward Kennedy

31. “Justice Lewis Powell spoke for all of us when he said: Equal justice under law is perhaps the most inspiring idea of our society. It is one of the ends for which our entire legal system exists.”

— Edward Kennedy

32. “A good marriage is loving someone in a lot of different circumstances. Respect for them and their views and ideas and the life that they’re leading with you. Shared values and interests. A good sense of humour. And a little volatility along the way.”

— Edward Kennedy

33. “Will a nominee embrace and uphold the essential meaning of the four words inscribed above the entrance of the Supreme Court building: Equal justice under law?”

— Edward Kennedy

34. “I favor access to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.”

— Edward Kennedy

35. “I have fallen short in my life, but my faith has always brought me home.”

— Edward Kennedy

36. “I hope for an America where the power of faith will always burn brightly, but where no modern inquisition of any kind will ever light the fires of fear, coercion, or angry division.”

— Edward Kennedy

37. “As we have seen from Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s example, even one justice can profoundly alter the meaning of those words for our citizens. Even one justice can deeply affect the rights and liberties of the American people.”

— Edward Kennedy

38. “Frankly, I don’t mind not being President. I just mind that someone else is.”

— Edward Kennedy

39. “Keep your tax-cutting, greedy hands off our medicare.”

— Edward Kennedy

40. “I think a child calling for his mother is the most beautiful sound in the world.”

— Edward Kennedy

41. “The more our feelings diverge, the more deeply felt they are, the greater is our obligation to grant the sincerity and essential decency of our fellow citizens on the other side.”

— Edward Kennedy

42. “Never listen to a phone call that isn’t meant for you. Never read a letter that isn’t meant for you. Never pay attention to a comment that isn’t meant for you. Never violate people’s privacy. You will save yourself a lot of anguish.”

— Edward Kennedy

43. “Under the Bush administration, openness and accountability have been replaced by secrecy and evasion of responsibility. They abuse their power, conceal their actions from the American people, and refuse to hold officials accountable.”

— Edward Kennedy

44. “There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud.”

— Edward Kennedy

45. “I won’t yield to anyone about guns in our society. I know enough about it.”

— Edward Kennedy

46. “There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein’s regime is a serious danger, that he is a tyrant, and that his pursuit of lethal weapons of mass destruction cannot be tolerated. He must be disarmed.”

— Edward Kennedy

47. “Dad, I’m in some trouble. There’s been an accident and you’re going to hear all sorts of things about me from now on. Terrible things.”

— Edward Kennedy

48. “Democrats may be in the minority in Congress, but we speak for the majority of Americans.”

— Edward Kennedy

49. “That is a pretty big deal from a commitment standpoint.”

— Edward Kennedy

50. “Supreme Court nominations are an occasion to pause and reflect on the values that make our nation strong, just and fair. And we must determine whether a nominee has a demonstrated commitment to those basic values.”

— Edward Kennedy