John Fitzgerald Kennedy cytaty

strona 13

„Thomas Power: Trzeba zabić drani. Jeśli po wojnie zostanie dwoje Amerykanów i jeden Rosjanin, to wygraliśmy.
John F. Kennedy: Lepiej niech się pan upewni, że będą to mężczyzna i kobieta.”

„Musimy używać czasu jako narzędzia, nie jako leżanki.”

„Istnieje prawdopodobnie jeden tylko sposób, aby zapobiec przedwczesnemu rozgłaszaniu naszych decyzji, a mianowicie: nie podejmować żadnych decyzji.”

„Jestem przekonany, że nasz naród powinien postawić sobie za cel, aby do końca tego dziesięciolecia umieścić człowieka na Księżycu i sprowadzić go bezpiecznie z powrotem na Ziemię.”

„Nie pytajcie, co kraj może zrobić dla was; pytajcie, co wy możecie zrobić dla kraju.”

„Sama broń nie wystarcza, by utrzymać w świecie pokój. Najważniejsi są ludzie.”

„Wolność boryka się z licznymi trudnościami, a demokracja nie jest doskonała, ale my nigdy nie musieliśmy wznosić muru, by zatrzymać naszych ludzi.”

„Czy jest jakakolwiek dziedzina, w której możemy zamanifestować naszą przewagę? Czy ktoś może mi powiedzieć, jak ich doścignąć? Chętnie wysłucham wszystkich, którzy mają jakiś pomysł, nawet gdyby miał to być woźny. W tej chwili nie ma nic ważniejszego.”

„O jakim pokoju myślę? Jakiego pokoju poszukujemy? Nie Pax Americana narzuconego światu przez amerykańską broń. Przemyślmy nasz stosunek do Związku Radzieckiego. Smutne, że aż tyle nas dzieli. Jednak, skoro już musimy się różnić, przynajmniej zróbmy coś, by uczynić świat bezpieczniejszym miejscem dla różnorodności, gdyż w ostatecznym rachunku wiele nas łączy. Wszyscy zamieszkujemy tę małą planetę, oddychamy tym samym powietrzem, zależy nam na przyszłości naszych dzieci i wszyscy jesteśmy śmiertelni.”

„Sprawdzianem naszej godności narodowej będzie to, czy potrafimy przyzwyczaić się do myśli, że rokowania nie są konfliktami, w których chodzi o zwycięstwo lub klęskę.”

„O wiele lepiej jest spotkać się na szczycie niż nad brzegiem przepaści.”

„Nigdy nie należy przystępować do negocjacji ze strachu i nigdy nie należy się bać negocjować.”

„Mojemu następcy dam radę, żeby uważał na generałów. To, że są wojskowymi, nie oznacza, że ich opinie w sprawach wojskowych mają jakąkolwiek wartość.”

„Ktokolwiek wierzy w sprawiedliwość na świecie, ten jest fałszywie poinformowany.”

„Jeżeli wolne społeczeństwo nie jest w stanie pomóc ubogiej większości, to nie ochroni też garstki bogaczy.”

„Wszystkie nasze wysiłki muszą zmierzać do tego, abyśmy dotarli na Księżyc przed Rosjanami. W innym wypadku nie widzę potrzeby wydatkowania takich kwot, bo kosmos jako taki niewiele mnie obchodzi. W grę wchodzą gigantyczne kwoty. Nadwerężyliśmy nasz budżet, a jedynym tego uzasadnieniem jest osiągnięcie rezultatu w takim czasie, o jaki proszę.”

„Łatwo jest wygłaszać ostre przemówienia, szczególnie tym, którzy nie muszą ponosić odpowiedzialności.”

„Do krajów, które mogłyby wystąpić przeciw nam, zwracamy się nie z prośbą, lecz z żądaniem: zacznijmy dążyć do pokoju zanim ciemne moce zniszczenia spuszczone przez naukowców z łańcucha popchnął ludzkość w stronę planowanej lub przypadkowej samozagłady.”

„Gdybym wiedział, co mnie czeka – głosowałbym na Nixona.”

„Teraz dźwięk trąbki przyzywa nas ponownie, nie jako zew broni, choć broni nam potrzeba, nie jako zew boju, choć w boju trwamy, lecz jako wezwanie do znoszenia ciężaru długich zmagań w półmroku – rok za rokiem, „weseląc się nadzieją i będąc cierpliwymi w ucisku” – do znoszenia zmagań z powszechnymi wrogami człowieka: tyranią, biedą, chorobą i samą wojną.”

„Nie módlcie się o łatwe życie. Módlcie się, żebyście byli silniejszymi ludźmi.”

„Od tych, którzy wiele dostają, wiele się wymaga.”

„Całe życie wiedziałem, że nie należy polegać na ekspertach. Jak mogłem być tak głupim, żeby im na to pozwolić?”

„Ludzkość musi położyć kres wojnie, bo inaczej wojna położy kres ludzkości.”

„Zdecydowaliśmy się w ciągu nadchodzących dziesięciu lat polecieć na Księżyc i dokonać innych rzeczy nie dlatego, że są łatwe, ale właśnie dlatego, że są trudne, a przez to zmuszą nas do lepszej organizacji i wykorzystania wszystkich naszych umiejętności (…).”

„Amerykanin lubi mieć do czynienia z wielką łatwizną albo z niebosiężnymi trudnościami; kiedy trzeba być pośrodku, zaczynają się z nim kłopoty.”

„Nie można mówić o wolności na świecie, dopóki choć jeden kraj będzie jej pozbawiony.”

„Czy uważa pan, że powinienem przeznaczyć te miliardy na bardziej przyziemne potrzeby, takie jak służba zdrowia, edukacja czy opieka społeczna? Niestety nie mamy tu wielkiego wyboru. Od tej sprawy zależy prestiż naszego państwa.”

„Mur jest najbardziej oczywistą i widoczną demonstracją fiaska systemu komunistycznego.”

„Nieprzyjemne prawdy są zawsze lepsze od przyjemnych złudzeń.”

„Jedyną niezmienną pewnością jest to, że nic nie jest pewne ani niezmienne.”

“Throughout our history we have been challenged to armed conflict by nations which sought to destroy our independence or threatened our freedom. The young men of America have risen to those occasions, giving themselves freely to the rigors and hardships of warfare. But the stamina and strength which the defense of liberty requires are not the product of a few weeks' basic training or a month's conditioning. These only come from bodies which have been conditioned by a lifetime of participation in sports and interest in physical activity. Our struggles against aggressors throughout our history have been won on the playgrounds and corner lots and fields of America. Thus, in a very real and immediate sense, our growing softness, our increasing lack of physical fitness, is a menace to our security.”

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

“I pledge you that we will neither commit nor provoke aggression, that we shall neither flee nor invoke the threat of force, that we shall never negotiate out of fear, we shall never fear to negotiate.”

“The deadly arms race, and the huge resources it absorbs, have too long overshadowed all else we must do. We must prevent that arms race from spreading to new nations, to new nuclear powers and to the reaches of outer space.”

“All my life I've known better than to depend on the experts. How could I have been so stupid, to let them go ahead?”

“There may be those who wish to hear more — more promises to this group or that — more harsh rhetoric about the men in the Kremlin — more assurances of a golden future, where taxes are always low and subsidies ever high. But my promises are in the platform you have adopted — our ends will not be won by rhetoric and we can have faith in the future only if we have faith in ourselves.”

“The great question which confronted this body in 1945 is still before us: whether man's cherished hopes for progress and peace are to be destroyed by terror and disruption, whether the "foul winds of war" can be tamed in time to free the cooling winds of reason, and whether the pledges of our Charter are to be fulfilled or defied — pledges to secure peace, progress, human rights and world law.”

“In these and other ways, let us move up the steep and difficult path toward comprehensive disarmament, securing mutual confidence through mutual verification, and building the institutions of peace as we dismantle the engines of war. We must not let failure to agree on all points delay agreements where agreement is possible. And we must not put forward proposals for propaganda purposes.”

“Chronic disputes which divert precious resources from the needs of the people or drain the energies of both sides serve the interests of no one — and the badge of responsibility in the modern world is a willingness to seek peaceful solutions.”

“I believe in an America where the free enterprise system flourishes for all other systems to see and admire — where no businessman lacks either competition or credit — and where no monopoly, no racketeer, no government bureaucracy can put him out of business that he built up with his own initiative.”

“As the idealism of our youth has served world peace, so can it serve the domestic tranquility.”

“This State, this city, this campus, have stood long for both human rights and human enlightenment — and let that forever be true. This Nation is now engaged in a continuing debate about the rights of a portion of its citizens. This Nation is now engaged in a continuing debate about the rights of a portion of its citizens. That will go on, and those rights will expand until the standard first forged by the Nation's founders has been reached, and all Americans enjoy equal opportunity and liberty under law. But this Nation was not founded solely on the principle of citizens' rights. Equally important, though too often not discussed, is the citizen's responsibility. For our privileges can be no greater than our obligations. The protection of our rights can endure no longer than the performance of our responsibilities. Each can be neglected only at the peril of the other. I speak to you today, therefore, not of your rights as Americans, but of your responsibilities. They are many in number and different in nature. They do not rest with equal weight upon the shoulders of all. Equality of opportunity does not mean equality of responsibility. All Americans must be responsible citizens, but some must be more responsible than others, by virtue of their public or their private position, their role in the family or community, their prospects for the future, or their legacy from the past. Increased responsibility goes with increased ability, for "of those to whom much is given, much is required."”

“I wonder how it is with you, Harold? If I don't have a woman for three days, I get terrible headaches.”

“The heart of the question is whether all Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities, whether we are going to treat our fellow Americans as we want to be treated. If an American, because his skin is dark, cannot eat lunch in a restaurant open to the public, if he cannot send his children to the best public school available, if he cannot vote for the public officials who represent him, if, in short, he cannot enjoy the full and free life which all of us want, then who among us would be content to have the color of his skin changed and stand in his place? Who among us would then be content with the counsels of patience and delay?”

“Woodrow Wilson's New Freedom promised our nation a new political and economic framework. Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal promised security and succor to those in need. But the New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises — it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them. It appeals to their pride, not to their pocketbook — it holds out the promise of more sacrifice instead of more security.”

“For I can assure you that we love our country, not for what it was, though it has always been great — not for what it is, though of this we are deeply proud — but for what it someday can, and, through the efforts of us all, someday will be.”

“Five score years ago the ground on which we here stand shuddered under the clash of arms and was consecrated for all time by the blood of American manhood. Abraham Lincoln, in dedicating this great battlefield, has expressed, in words too eloquent for paraphrase or summary, why this sacrifice was necessary. Today, we meet not to add to his words nor to amend his sentiment but to recapture the feeling of awe that comes when contemplating a memorial to so many who placed their lives at hazard for right, as God gave them to see right. Among those who fought here were young men who but a short time before were pursuing truth in the peaceful halls of the then new University of Notre Dame. Since that time men of Notre Dame have proven, on a hundred battlefields, that the words, "For God, For Country, and For Notre Dame," are full of meaning. Let us pray that God may grant us the wisdom to find and to follow a path that will enable the men of Notre Dame and all of our young men to seek truth in the halls of study rather than on the field of battle."”

“A tax cut means higher family income and higher business profits and a balanced federal budget…. As the national income grows, the federal government will ultimately end up with more revenues. Prosperity is the real way to balance our budget. By lowering tax rates, by increasing jobs and income, we can expand tax revenues and finally bring our budget into balance.”

“This right of free choice is no special privilege claimed by the Germans alone. It is an elemental requirement of human justice.”

“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.”

“The contest will continue — the contest between those who see a monolithic world and those who believe in diversity — but it should be a contest in leadership and responsibility instead of destruction, a contest in achievement instead of intimidation. Speaking for the United States of America, I welcome such a contest. For we believe that truth is stronger than error — and that freedom is more enduring than coercion. And in the contest for a better life, all the world can be a winner.”

“If vital interests under duress can be preserved by peaceful means, negotiations will find that out. If our adversary will accept nothing-less than a concession of our rights, negotiations will find that out. And if negotiations are to take place, this nation cannot abdicate to its adversaries the task of choosing the forum and the framework and the time.”

“The Secretary General, in a very real sense, is the servant of the General Assembly. Diminish his authority and you diminish the authority of the only body where all nations, regardless of power, are equal and sovereign. Until all the powerful are just, the weak will be secure only in the strength of this Assembly.”

“Our Constitution wisely assigns both joint and separate roles to each branch of the government; and a President and a Congress who hold each other in mutual respect will neither permit nor attempt any trespass.”

“This increase in the life span and in the number of our senior citizens presents this Nation with increased opportunities: the opportunity to draw upon their skill and sagacity — and the opportunity to provide the respect and recognition they have earned. It is not enough for a great nation merely to have added new years to life — our objective must also be to add new life to those years.”

“It is increasingly clear that no matter what party is in power, so long as our national security needs keep rising, an economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough jobs or enough profits.”

“This is a great country and requires a good deal of all of us, so I can imagine nothing more important than for all of you to continue to work in public affairs and be interested in them, not only to bring up a family, but also give part of your time to your community, your state, and your country.”

“I would say to the leaders of the Soviet Union, and to their people, that if either of our countries is to be fully secure, we need a much better weapon than the H-bomb — a weapon better than ballistic missiles or nuclear submarines — and that better weapon is peaceful cooperation.”

“Vice President Johnson, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Chief Justice, President Eisenhower, Vice President Nixon, President Truman, reverend clergy, fellow citizens, we observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom — symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning — signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.”