John F. Kennedy

Now the trumpet summons us again - not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are; but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, 'rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation', a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.

Democracy is never a final achievement. It is a call to an untiring effort.

We are under exercised as a nation. We look instead of play. We ride instead of walk. Our existence deprives us of the minimum of physical activity essential for healthy living.

In our democracy every young person should have an equal opportunity to obtain a higher education, regardless of his station in life or financial means.

Every time that we try to lift a problem from our own shoulders, and shift that problem to the hands of the government, to the same extent we are sacrificing the liberties of our people.

Sincerity is always subject to proof.

If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help.

The new and terrible dangers which man has created can only be controlled by man.

Suspicion on one side breeds suspicion on the other, and new weapons beget counter-weapons.

The efforts of governments alone will never be enough. In the end, the people must choose and the people must help themselves.

I want every American to be free to stand up for his rights, even if sometimes he has to sit down for them.

The state is the servant of the citizen, and not his master.

There is only one rule by which to judge if God is near us or is far away - the rule that God's word is giving us today: everyone concerned for the hungry, the naked, the poor, for those who have vanished in police custody, for the tortured, for prisoners, for all flesh that suffers, has God close at hand. We have the ability, we have the means, and we have the capacity to eliminate hunger from the face of the earth. We need only the will.

The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

Remember that our nation's first great leaders were also our first great scholars.

Intelligence and skill can only function at the peak of their capacity when the body is healthy and strong.

We set sail on this new sea because there is new knowledge to be gained, and new rights to be won, and they must be won and used for the progress of all people. For space science, like nuclear science and technology, has no conscience of its own. Whether it will become a force for good or ill depends on man, and only if the United States occupies a position of preeminence can we help decide whether this new ocean will be a sea of peace or a new terrifying theater of war.

Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life.

We stand for freedom. That is our conviction for ourselves; that is our only commitment to others.

This nation was founded by men of many nations and backgrounds. It was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that the rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened ... It ought to to be possible, in short, for every American to enjoy the privileges of being American without regard to his race or his color.

This is one country. It has become one country because all of us and all the people who came here had an equal chance to develop their talents. We cannot say to ten percent of the population that you can't have that right; that your children cannot have the chance to develop whatever talents they have; that the only way that they are going to get their rights is to go in the street and demonstrate. I think we owe them and we owe ourselves a better country than that.