“Yet the vows of this Nation can only be fulfilled if we in this Nation are first, and, therefore, we intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others, all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faring nation.”

— John F. Kennedy

1962, Rice University speech

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John F. Kennedy 469

35th president of the United States of America 1917–1963

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Truman Library address (2006)
Context: No nation can make itself secure by seeking supremacy over all others. We all share responsibility for each other’s security, and only by working to make each other secure can we hope to achieve lasting security for ourselves.
— And, I would add that this responsibility is not simply a matter of States being ready to come to each other’s aid when attacked — important though that is. It also includes our shared responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity — a responsibility solemnly accepted by all nations at last year’s UN world summit. That means that respect for national sovereignty can no longer be used as a shield by Governments intent on massacring their own people, or as an excuse for the rest of us to do nothing when heinous crimes are committed.

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Joe Biden (1942) 47th Vice President of the United States (in office from 2009 to 2017)

Page 145
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“For nation-building, the first requisite is peace— peace with our neighbours and peace in the world. Our security environment has been vitiated.”

Rajiv Gandhi (1944–1991) sixth Prime Minister of India

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Arthur James Balfour (1848–1930) British Conservative politician and statesman

Cheers.
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Jesse Jackson (1941) African-American civil rights activist and politician

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Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, 26th president of the United States

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Vannevar Bush (1890–1974) American electrical engineer and science administrator

Source: Science - The Endless Frontier (1945), Summary

“Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.”

Max Planck (1858–1947) German theoretical physicist

Variants:
Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are a part of the mystery that we are trying to solve.
Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature, for in the final analysis we ourselves are part of the mystery we are trying to solve.
Source: Where is Science Going? (1932)

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Stanley Baldwin (1867–1947) Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

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1935

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