Top 180 John F. Kerry Quotes (2026 Update)
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151. “America must always be the world’s paramount military power, but we can magnify our power through alliances.”

— John F. Kerry

152. “That is what Americans do. We face a challenge – no matter how great – because we know that on the other side there is always hope.”

— John F. Kerry

153. “George Bush’s vision does not live up to the America I enlisted in the Navy to defend, the America I have fought for in the Senate, and the America that I hope to lead as president.”

— John F. Kerry

154. “As the saying goes, I have big heels to fill.”

— John F. Kerry

155. “I still believe Americas destiny is to become a living testament to what free human beings can accomplish by acting in unity.”

— John F. Kerry

156. “Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, others, knew how to lead. They knew how to ask the American people for the right things.”

— John F. Kerry

157. “We do not need more division. We certainly do not need something as complex and emotional as Vietnam reduced to simple campaign rhetoric.”

— John F. Kerry

158. “This is deeply disturbing. Congress provided loans to help businesses hurt by the Sept. 11 attacks, not to be used as an accounting gimmick to cover up this administration’s failure to provide for small businesses.”

— John F. Kerry

159. “Our cause in the war on terror isn’t helped when we have army officers like Lieutenant General William Boykin speaking in evangelical churches and claiming this as some sort of battle for the Christian religion. That’s wrong. That’s un-American.”

— John F. Kerry

160. “I am not a spokesperson for the church and the church is not a spokesperson for the United States of America. I’m running for president and I’m running to uphold the Constitution, which has a strict separation of church and state.”

— John F. Kerry

161. “The measurement in this race is not where you come from, it is “what do you fight for.””

— John F. Kerry

162. “I’ve been having problems with the right wing lately.”

— John F. Kerry

163. “It’s hard to believe that in the greatest democracy in the world, we need legislation to prevent the government from writing and paying for the news.”

— John F. Kerry

164. “I will not stop in our efforts to hunt down and kill the terrorists.”

— John F. Kerry

165. “Iraq may not be the war on terror itself, but it is critical to the outcome of the war on terror, and therefore any advance in Iraq is an advance forward in that...”

— John F. Kerry

166. “The Ukrainian people should not be coerced. Make no mistake: the US stands together with the Ukrainians aspiring for democracy.”

— John F. Kerry

167. “I’m glad the President finally found an economic development program. I’m just sad that it’s only in Baghdad.”

— John F. Kerry

168. “Jesus did not help just the sick who could afford to pay for it.”

— John F. Kerry

169. “President Clinton was often known as the first black president. I wouldn’t be upset if I could earn the right to be the second.”

— John F. Kerry

170. “America deserves a real discussion about real policy.”

— John F. Kerry

171. “I am a veteran, I fought in a war. I’ve been a prosecutor. I’ve sent people to jail for the rest of their life.”

— John F. Kerry

172. “There is a much cheaper way, less complicated way to bring Iraq and Saddam Hussein to its knees: it is simply to send the Bush economic team over there and let them run the country.”

— John F. Kerry

173. “I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force – if necessary – to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security.”

— John F. Kerry

174. “Glossed over the disastrous war and its multibillion-dollar price tag and implied again that our presence in Iraq is somehow improving the situation in that chaotic and turbulent country. The Congress must stand up against Bush’s plan to escalate the war.”

— John F. Kerry

175. “As President, I will not be the last to know what is going on in my command.”

— John F. Kerry

176. “And here and now we must insist again that fidelity, honor, and love of country demand untrammeled debate and open dissent. At no time is that truer than in the midst of a war rooted in deceit and justified by continuing deception.”

— John F. Kerry

177. “I believe America is safest and strongest when we are leading the world and we are leading strong alliances.”

— John F. Kerry

178. “It’s very hard to get other countries to give up their weapons when you’re busy developing a new one.”

— John F. Kerry

179. “I’m Going To Make Available To Every American The Same Health Care Plan That Senators And Congressmen Give Themselves.”

— John F. Kerry

180. “So my judgment is that Syria will move; Syria will change, as it embraces a legitimate relationship with the United States and the West and economic opportunity that comes with it and the participation that comes with it.”

— John F. Kerry

181. “There is no bigger judgment for a president of the United States than how you take a nation to war.”

— John F. Kerry

182. “The race for the White House should be about leadership, and leadership requires that one help heal the wounds of Vietnam, not reopen them.”

— John F. Kerry

183. “I refuse to stand by while our democracy is trampled by politicians more concerned about amassing power than helping the people who sent them to Washington in the first place.”

— John F. Kerry