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Ted Kennedy Quotes

Edward Moore Kennedy was an American politician who served in the United States Senate from Massachusetts for almost 47 years, from 1962 until his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the third-longest-continuously-serving senator in United States history. For many years, Ted was the most prominent living member of the Kennedy family. He was also the last surviving, longest-living, and youngest son of Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr. and Rose Kennedy. He was the youngest brother of John F. "Jack" Kennedy—the 35th President of the United States—and Senator Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy, both victims of assassination, and the father of Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy.

Ted Kennedy was 30 years old when he first entered the Senate following a November 1962 special election in Massachusetts to fill the vacant seat previously held by his brother, John, who had taken office as the president. He was elected to a full six-year term in 1964 and was later re-elected seven more times. The Chappaquiddick incident in 1969 resulted in the death of his automobile passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne. Kennedy pleaded guilty to a charge of leaving the scene of an accident and later received a two-month suspended sentence. The incident and its aftermath hindered his chances of ever becoming president. His only attempt, in the 1980 election, resulted in a Democratic primary campaign loss to incumbent President Jimmy Carter, who was later defeated in the general election by Republican opponent Ronald Reagan.

Kennedy was known for his oratorical skills. His 1968 eulogy for his brother Robert and his 1980 rallying cry for modern American liberalism were among his best-known speeches. He became recognized as "The Lion of the Senate" through his long tenure and influence. Kennedy and his staff wrote more than 300 bills that were enacted into law. Unabashedly liberal, Kennedy championed an interventionist government that emphasized economic and social justice, but he was also known for working with Republicans to find compromises among senators with disparate views. As such, Kennedy played a major role in passing many laws, including the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the National Cancer Act of 1971, the COBRA health insurance provision, the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Ryan White AIDS Care Act, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Mental Health Parity Act, the S-CHIP children's health program, the No Child Left Behind Act, and the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. During the 2000s, he led several unsuccessful immigration reform efforts. Over the course of his Senate career and continuing into the Barack Obama administration, Kennedy continued his efforts to enact universal health care, which he called the "cause of my life."

By the later years of his life, Kennedy had come to be viewed as a major figure and spokesman for American progressivism. In 2008, Kennedy was hospitalized after suffering a seizure and was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor, which limited his appearances in the Senate. He died of the disease at age 77 on August 25, 2009, at the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.

✵ 22. February 1932 – 25. August 2009
Ted Kennedy photo
Ted Kennedy: 21 quotes0 likes

Famous Ted Kennedy Quotes

“Love is not an easy feeling to put into words. Nor is loyalty, or trust, or joy. But he was all of these. He loved life completely and he lived it intensely.”

Ted Kennedy

Eulogy http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ekennedytributetorfk.html for Robert F. Kennedy at St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York (8 June 1968)

“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.”

Ted Kennedy

On big business and big government; speech before American Bar Association, New York (August 8, 1978), reported in Alan F. Pater, Jason R. Pate, What They Said in 1978 (1979), p. 168.

“From the windows of my office in Boston … I can see the Golden Stairs from Boston Harbor where all eight of my great-grandparents set foot on this great land for the first time. That immigrant spirit of limitless possibility animates America even today.”

Ted Kennedy

Attributed to a 2007 Senate speech by Kathy Kiely, &quot;Kennedy &#x27;fashioned the modern day legal system of immigration&#x27; &quot; http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20090826/NEWS01/908260380/Kennedy++fashioned+the+modern+day+legal+system+of+immigration+, USA Today, 26 August 2009 <br class="br">Attributed

“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.”

Ted Kennedy

Eulogy for Robert F. Kennedy (8 June 1968)

“If we set the precedent of limiting the First Amendment, in order to protect the sensibilities of those who are offended by flag burning, what will we say the next time someone is offended by some other minority view, or by some other person's exercise of the freedom the Constitution is supposed to protect?”

Ted Kennedy

Constituent letter (1997)

“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.”

Ted Kennedy

Esquire: The Meaning of Life (2009), p. 81

Ted Kennedy Quotes about life

“For me this is a season of hope -- new hope for a justice and fair prosperity for the many, and not just for the few — new hope.
And this is the cause of my life — new hope that we will break the old gridlock and guarantee that every American — north, south, east, west, young, old — will have decent, quality health care as a fundamental right and not a privilege.”

Ted Kennedy

Source: DNC Speech (2008)

“I hope for an America where neither "fundamentalist" nor "humanist" will be a dirty word, but a fair description of the different ways in which people of good will look at life and into their own souls.”

Ted Kennedy

Speech on &quot;Truth and Tolerance in America,&quot; Oct. 3, 1983, Lynchburg, Va. Cited by latimes.com http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-naw-ted-kennedy-quotes26-2009aug26,0,3918428.story, 26 August 2009

“Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized – the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old…. When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception.”

Ted Kennedy

and http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123086375678148323.html http://www.wnd.com/2009/09/108646/ a private letter from August 3, 1971 in response to New York&#x27;s legalization of abortion

Ted Kennedy Quotes

“The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on.”

Ted Kennedy

This last line references the last line of his DNC speech in 1980 where he said "the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
DNC Speech (2008)
Context: There is a new wave of change all around us, and if we set our compass true, we will reach our destination — not merely victory for our Party, but renewal for our nation.
And this November the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans, so with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on.

“We cannot simply speak out against an escalation of troops in Iraq, we must act to prevent it… There can be no doubt that the Constitution gives Congress the authority to decide whether to fund military action, and Congress can demand a justification from the president for such action before it appropriates the funds to carry it out.”

Ted Kennedy

Source: Remarks to the National Press Club (9 January 2007), as quoted in &quot;Official: First wave of troops to Iraq by Jan. 30&quot; at MSNBC (9 January 2007) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16546093/

“My fellow Democrats, my fellow Americans, it is so wonderful to be here.
And nothing — nothing is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight.
I have come here tonight to stand with you to change America, to restore its future, to rise to our best ideals, and to elect Barack Obama president of the United States.”

Ted Kennedy

DNC Speech (2008)

“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.”

Ted Kennedy

Concession speech in his campaign for nomination as the Democratic Presidential candidate against incumbent Jimmy Carter at the Democratic Convention in New York City (12 August 1980).
This has sometimes been misquoted as "The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die."

“What we have in the United States is not so much a health-care system as a disease-care system.”

Ted Kennedy

1994. Attributed without source by telegraph.co.uk http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6094226/Ted-Kennedy-quotes.html, 26 August 2009 <br class="br">Attributed

“We are told that Barack Obama believes too much in an America of high principle and bold endeavor, but when John Kennedy called of going to the moon, he didn't say, "It's too far to get there. We shouldn't even try."
Our people answered his call and rose to the challenge, and today an American flag still marks the surface of the moon.”

Ted Kennedy

DNC Speech (2008)

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

Ted Kennedy

Senate debate with Mitt Romney (1994). Cited by biography http://www.themonkeycage.org/2009/08/ted_kennedy.html

“But don't you realize, that's where I sail.”

Ted Kennedy

On the Cape Wind Project, as quoted in Cape Wind : Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for Our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound (2007) by Wendy Williams and Robert Whitcomb, and also in a book review of it in The New York Times (17 June 2007) http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/books/review/Sullivan2-t.html?ex=1189051200&amp;en=f2d971ab27b37734&amp;ei=5070

“Never say in grief you are sorry he's gone. Rather, say in thankfulness you are grateful he was here.”

Ted Kennedy

Remark originally made to Portland Mason shortly after the death of her father James Mason (circa late July or early August, 1994), later placed on his headstone; as quoted in &quot;15 years after his death, film star finds rest&quot; https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/mar/11/features11.g21 by Dan Glaister, in The Guardian (10 March 1999)

“There is a new wave of change all around us, and if we set our compass true, we will reach our destination — not merely victory for our Party, but renewal for our nation.”

Ted Kennedy

This last line references the last line of his DNC speech in 1980 where he said "the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
2000s, DNC Speech (2008)
And this November the torch will be passed again to a new generation of Americans, so with Barack Obama and for you and for me, our country will be committed to his cause. The work begins anew. The hope rises again. And the dream lives on.

“I will never forget the 5th anniversary of the Peace Corps where I sat with the very first group of volunteers. I asked each of them why they decided to get involved. They said it was the first time anyone asked them to do anything for their country. Yeah Today, another young president has challenged another generation to give back to their country”

Ted Kennedy

2000s <br class="br">Source: Remarks http://www.tedkennedy.org/ownwords/event/serve_america.html at the signing of the Serve America Act

“You don't choose the time. The time chooses you. Either you seize what may turn out to be the only chance you have, or you decide you're willing to live with the knowledge that the chance had passed you by”

Ted Kennedy

Source: Kniha Promised Land

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