Top 500 John F. Kennedy Quotes (2024 Update)
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351. “We have all seen these circus elephants complete with tusks, ivory in their head and thick skins, who move around the circus ring and grab the tail of the elephant ahead of them.”

— John F. Kennedy

352. “You can milk a cow the wrong way once and still be a farmer, but vote the wrong way on a water tower and you can be in trouble.”

— John F. Kennedy

353. “I am the man who accompanied Jacqueline Kennedy to Paris, and I have enjoyed it.”

— John F. Kennedy

354. “A tired nation, said David Lloyd George, is a Tory nation, and the United States today cannot afford to be either tired or Tory.”

— John F. Kennedy

355. “In giving rights to others which belong to them, we give rights to ourselves and to our country.”

— John F. Kennedy

356. “When I was growing up I had three wishes. I wanted to be a Lindbergh-type hero, learn Chinese, and become a member of The Algonquin Round Table.”

— John F. Kennedy

357. “Democracy is the superior form of government, because it is based on a respect for man as a reasonable being.”

— John F. Kennedy

358. “There is danger that totalitarian governments, not subject to vigorous popular debate, will underestimate the will and unity of democratic societies where vital interests are concerned.”

— John F. Kennedy

359. “Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder.”

— John F. Kennedy

360. “Politics is like football; if you see daylight, go through the hole.”

— John F. Kennedy

361. “The leadership of the American Legion has not had a constructive thought for the benefit of this country since 1918.”

— John F. Kennedy

362. “I am sorry to say that there is too much point to the wisecrack that life is extinct on other planets because their scientists were more advanced than ours.”

— John F. Kennedy

363. “We will not prematurely or unnecessarily risk the costs of a worldwide nuclear war in which even the fruits of victory would be ashes in our mouth – but neither shall we shrink from that risk any time it must be faced.”

— John F. Kennedy

364. “I am the one person who can truthfully say, I got my job through the New York Times.”

— John F. Kennedy

365. “I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty.”

— John F. Kennedy

366. “While we cannot guarantee that we shall one day be first, we can guarantee that any failure to make this effort will make us last.”

— John F. Kennedy

367. “Any system of government will work when everything is going well. It’s the system that functions in the pinches that survive.”

— John F. Kennedy

368. “It’s only when they join together in a forward movement that this country moves ahead...”

— John F. Kennedy

369. “No one has been barred on account of his race from fighting or dying for America, there are no white or colored signs on the foxholes or graveyards of battle.”

— John F. Kennedy

370. “Persons are judged to be great because of the positive qualities they possess, not because of the absence of faults.”

— John F. Kennedy

371. “To sound the alarm is not to panic but to seek action from an aroused public.”

— John F. Kennedy

372. “An economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough jobs or enough profits.”

— John F. Kennedy

373. “And only the very courageous will be able to keep alive the spirit of individualism and dissent which gave birth to this nation, nourished it as an infant, and carried it through its severest tests upon the attainment of its maturity.”

— John F. Kennedy

374. “Easy money, sudden fortunes, increasingly powerful political machines and blatant corruption transformed much of the nation; and the Senate, as befits a democratic legislative body, accurately represented the nation.”

— John F. Kennedy

375. “The mere absence of war is not peace.”

— John F. Kennedy

376. “The world was not meant to be a prison in which man awaits his execution.”

— John F. Kennedy

377. “The guiding principle of this Nation has been, is now, and ever shall be IN GOD WE TRUST.”

— John F. Kennedy

378. “The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy.”

— John F. Kennedy

379. “Now we have a problem in making our power credible, and Vietnam is the place.”

— John F. Kennedy

380. “If there is one path above all others to war, it is the path of weakness and disunity.”

— John F. Kennedy

381. “For a subject worked and reworked so often in novels, motion pictures, and television, American Indians remain probably the least understood and most misunderstood Americans of us all.”

— John F. Kennedy

382. “We have become more and more not a nation of athletes but a nation of spectators.”

— John F. Kennedy

383. “The men who create power make an indispensable contribution to the nation’s greatness, but the men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable.”

— John F. Kennedy

384. “The processes of growth are gradual, bearing fruit in a decade, not a day.”

— John F. Kennedy

385. “I’m 43 years old and I’m the healthiest candidate for the Presidency of the United States. You’ve travelled with me enough to know that I’m not going to die in office.”

— John F. Kennedy

386. “There are only two realities in life: death and laughter. We can do nothing to change the former, so we might as well do all we can to save the latter.”

— John F. Kennedy

387. “Now let me make it clear that I believe there can only be one defense policy for the United States and that is summed up in the word ‘first.’ I do not mean first, but. I do not mean first, when. I do not mean first, if. I mean first -period.”

— John F. Kennedy

388. “I am grateful to those Members of Congress who worked so diligently to guide the Equal Pay Act through. It is a first step. It affirms our determination that when women enter the labor force they will find equality in their pay envelopes.”

— John F. Kennedy

389. “Genuine peace must be the product of many nations, the sum of many acts. It must be dynamic, not static, changing to meet the challenge of each new generation. For peace is a process-a way of solving problems.”

— John F. Kennedy

390. “What church I go to on Sunday, what dogma of the Catholic Church I believe in, is my business; and whatever faith any other American has is his business.”

— John F. Kennedy

391. “Khrushchev reminds me of the tiger hunter who has picked a place on the wall to hang the tiger’s skin long before he has caught the tiger. This tiger has other ideas.”

— John F. Kennedy

392. “If this nation is to be wise as well as strong, if we are to achieve our destiny, then we need more new ideas for more wise men reading more good books in more public libraries.”

— John F. Kennedy

393. “But however close we sometimes seem to that dark and final abyss, let no man of peace and freedom despair. For he does not stand alone.”

— John F. Kennedy

394. “Our children and grandchildren are not merely statistics towards which we can be indifferent.”

— John F. Kennedy

395. “The credit of success is claimed by all, while a disaster is attributed to one alone.”

— John F. Kennedy

396. “Just as I went into politics because Joe died, if anything happened to me tomorrow, my brother Bobby would run for my seat in the Senate. And if Bobby died, Teddy would take over for him.”

— John F. Kennedy

397. “We shall be judged more by what we do at home than what we preach abroad.”

— John F. Kennedy

398. “Arms alone are not enough to keep the peace. It must be kept by men.”

— John F. Kennedy

399. “Washington is a city of Southern efficiency and Northern charm.”

— John F. Kennedy

400. “You’re in there with me. Personally.”

— John F. Kennedy