John F. Kennedy
Illustration, not an archive object
President of the United States (1961-1963) · United States
6 quotes, oldest first. Filter with other speakers.
“And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.”
Close of the inaugural address. The next sentence extends the appeal to 'my fellow citizens of the world'.
John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961, Avalon Project, Yale Law School; same wording in the National Archives milestone-document text Source
“Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.”
Early pledge in the inaugural address, addressed to nations whether friendly or hostile to the United States.
John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961, Avalon Project, Yale Law School Source
“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.”
Late in the inaugural address. The biblical phrase is from Romans 12:12.
John F. Kennedy, Inaugural Address, 20 January 1961, Avalon Project, Yale Law School Source
“Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was "civis Romanus sum." Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner."”
Speech to a large crowd in West Berlin, two years after the Berlin Wall was built. The Latin and German phrases are spoken within the English speech.
John F. Kennedy, Remarks in the Rudolph Wilde Platz, Berlin, 26 June 1963, The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara Source
“There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. And there are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the Communists. Let them come to Berlin. And there are even a few who say that it is true that communism is an evil system, but it permits us to make economic progress. Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Let them come to Berlin.”
The repeated passage of the Berlin speech, aimed at those who argued that communism was the future or could be worked with. He spoke the German sentence himself.
John F. Kennedy, Remarks in the Rudolph Wilde Platz, Berlin, 26 June 1963, The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara Source
“Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us.”
On the Berlin Wall, built in August 1961. The next sentences describe the wall as an offense against humanity, quoting the mayor of West Berlin.
John F. Kennedy, Remarks in the Rudolph Wilde Platz, Berlin, 26 June 1963, The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara Source