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John F. Kennedy

John F. Kennedy Quotes

35th U.S. President

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Famous John F. Kennedy Quotes

“And if we are to open employment opportunities in this country for members of all races and creeds, then the Federal Government must set an example. The President himself must set the key example. I am not going to promise a Cabinet post or any other post to any race or ethnic group. That is racism in reverse at its worst. So I do not promise to consider race or religion in my appointments if I am successful. I promise only that I will not consider them.”

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Author:John F. Kennedy
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“There is a connection, hard to explain logically but easy to feel, between achievement in public life and progress in the arts. The age of Pericles was also the age of Phidias. The age of Lorenzo de Medici was also the age of Leonardo da Vinci. The age of Elizabeth was also the age of Shakespeare. And the New Frontier for which I campaign in public life, can also be a New Frontier for American art.”

FeelsArtHardAgeEasyProgressAchievementConnectionsCampaignsPresidentialFrontiersPublic LifeLeonardoNew FrontiersPublic ArtPhidias
Author:John F. Kennedy
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“Too often in the past, we have thought of the artist as an idler and dilettante and of the lover of arts as somehow sissy and effete. We have done both an injustice. The life of the artist is, in relation to his work, stern and lonely. He has labored hard, often amid deprivation, to perfect his skill. He has turned aside from quick success in order to strip his vision of everything secondary or cheapening. His working life is marked by intense application and intense discipline.”

ArtHardDonePastLife IsArtistOrderPerfectVisionLoversDisciplineSkillsLonelyRelationInjusticeIntensePresidentialApplicationDeprivationWorking LifeSissyIdlersDilettantes
Book:Creative America
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“It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now Cutting taxes now is not to incur a budget deficit, but to achieve the more prosperous, expanding economy which can bring a budget surplus.”

WayLongRunningEconomyCuttingAchieveTaxesLowsRaisesRateBudgetsLong RunsExpandingRevenueDeficitProsperousParadoxicalSurplusBudget Deficit
Author:John F. Kennedy
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“In those countries where income taxes are lower than in the United States, the ability to defer the payment of U.S. tax by retaining income in the subsidiary companies provides a tax advantage for companies operating through overseas subsidiaries that is not available to companies operating solely in the United States. Many American investors properly made use of this deferral in the conduct of their foreign investment.”

MadeCountryStatesUseAbilityUnitedCompanyUnited StatesTaxesAdvantageInvestmentAvailableIncomeInvestorsPaymentIncome TaxRetaining
Author:John F. Kennedy
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“The present tax codes inhibit the mobility and formation of capital, add complexities and inequities which undermine the morale of the taxpayer, and make tax avoidance rather than market factors a prime consideration in too many economic decisions.”

DecisionEconomicTaxesAddFactorsCodeComplexityConsiderationPrimeTaxpayersFormationAvoidanceMoraleMobility
Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963
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“Expansion and modernization of the nation's productive plant is essential to accelerate economic growth and to improve the international competitive position of American industry An early stimulus to business investment will promote recovery and increase employment.”

NationsGrowthEconomicPositionIndustryEssentialsIncreasePlantInvestmentInternationalRecoveryEmploymentProductiveExpansionEconomic GrowthStimulusAccelerateModernization
Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1961
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“We must start now to provide additional stimulus to the modernization of American industrial plants I shall propose to the Congress a new tax incentive for businesses to expand their normal investment in plant and equipment.”

TaxesNormalPlantInvestmentCongressEquipmentIncentivesProposeStimulusModernization
Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1961
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“We are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on covert means for expanding its sphere of influence — on infiltration instead of invasion, on subversion instead of elections, on intimidation instead of free choice, on guerrillas by night instead of armies by day”

WorldMeanNightChoicesInfluenceArmyElectionAround The WorldRelySpheresConspiracyExpandingInvasionRuthlessNew World OrderWorld OrderIntimidationWorld GovernmentNwoSecret SocietyFree ChoiceMilitary Industrial ComplexSubversionCovertGuerrillasSphere Of InfluenceInfiltration
Author:John F. Kennedy
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“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.”

WayMeanRealEndsGovernmentJobsGrowsCuttingBalanceHigherTaxesRateProfitProsperityIncomeBudgetsBalancedFederal GovernmentRevenueTax Cuts
Author:John F. Kennedy
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“No country can possibly move ahead, no free society can possibly be sustained, unless it has an educated citizenry whose qualities of mind and heart permit it to take part in the complicated and increasingly sophisticated decisions that pour not only upon the President and upon the Congress, but upon all the citizens who exercise the ultimate power.”

MindHeartCountryMovingPresidentDecisionQualityCitizensExerciseUltimateCongressComplicatedEducatedPermitSophisticatedHeart And MindFree SocietyCitizenryMoving AheadUltimate Power
Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963
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“If sometimes our great artists have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice, which must motivate any true artist, makes him aware that our nation falls short of its highest potential. I see little of more importance to the future of our country and our civilization than full recognition of the place of the artist.”

IfsLittlesHas BeensCountrySometimesArtistFallNationsJusticeCivilizationHighestConcernImportanceCriticalOur CountryRecognitionOur SocietySensitivityGreat ArtGreat ArtistTrue Artists
Author:John F. Kennedy
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“I believe in an America that is officially neither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish; where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials; and where religious liberty is so indivisible that an act against one church is treated as an act against all.”

BelieveBodyAmericaI BelieveChurchReligiousLibertyAcceptingPolicySourceCatholicI Believe InSeparationTreatedOfficialsInstructionPopeCouncilRequestChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateProtestantsPublic PolicySeparation Between Church And StateIndivisibleReligious LibertyPublic OfficialsProfiles In CourageCatholic Religion
Author:John F. Kennedy
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“For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew— or a Quaker or a Unitarian or a Baptist. It was Virginia's harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson's statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you — until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.”

YearsMayHas BeensWholeTodayReligiousExampleTomorrowCatholicVictimFingersJewSomedayBe YouPreacherSuspicionFabricPerilHarmoniousVirginiaBaptistsReligious FreedomRippedHarassmentSeparation Between Church And StateStatutesQuakerUnitarian
Author:John F. Kennedy
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“Finally, I believe in an America where religious intolerance will someday end; where all men and all churches are treated as equal; where every man has the same right to attend or not attend the church of his choice; where there is no Catholic vote, no anti-Catholic vote, no bloc voting of any kind; and where Catholics, Protestants and Jews, at both the lay and pastoral level, will refrain from those attitudes of disdain and division which have so often marred their works in the past, and promote instead the American ideal of brotherhood.”

MenBelieveKindEndsAmericaPastReligionChoicesI BelieveChurchReligiousLevelsAttitudeDemocracyEqualIdealsVoteCatholicLaysJewI Believe InEvery ManTreatedVotingSomedayDivisionBrotherhoodIntoleranceChurch And StateSeparation Of Church And StateProtestantsRefrainDisdainSeparation Between Church And StateReligious Intolerance
Author:John F. Kennedy
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“There are indications because of new inventions, that 10, 15, or 20 nations will have a nuclear capacity, including Red China, by the end of the Presidential office in 1964. This is extremely serious. I think the fate not only of our own civilization, but I think the fate of world and the future of the human race, is involved in preventing a nuclear war.”

ThinkingWorldHumansWarEndsNationsRaceFateSeriousInvolvedCivilizationOfficeRedCapacityIncludingChinaNuclearInventionPresidentialHuman RaceIndicationPreventingNuclear WarNew Inventions
Author:John F. Kennedy
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“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project...will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind, or more important...and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”

MenShouldBelieveImportantEarthI BelieveNationsDifficultGoalSpaceAchieveMankindMoonProjectsExcitingAccomplishDecadesCommitExpensiveImpressiveApolloLandingStar GazingMoon LandingMan In The Moon
Author:John F. Kennedy
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“Most of us are conditioned for many years to have a political viewpoint - Republican or Democratic, liberal, conservative, or moderate. The fact of the matter is that most of the problems that we now face are technical problems, are administrative problems. They are very sophisticated judgments, which do not lend themselves to the great sort of passionate movements which have stirred this country so often in the past. - They deal with questions which are now beyond the comprehension of most men.”

MenYearsCountryMatterFactsProblemPastFacesPoliticalPoliticsDealsMovementPoliticianRepublicanJudgmentDemocraticPassionateConservativeSophisticatedModeratesComprehensionViewpointsAdministrativePolitical View
Book:Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1962
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“As every past generation has had to disenthrall itself from an inheritance of truisms and stereotypes, so in our own time we must move on from the reassuring repetition of stale phrases to a new, difficult, but essential confrontation with reality. For the great enemy of truth is very often not the lie-deliberate, contrived and dishonest-but the myth-persistent, persuasive and unrealistic. Mythology distracts us everywhere.”

RealityPastMovingLyingDifficultEnemyGenerationsTruth IsEssentialsMythMythologyPhrasesStereotypeRepetitionDeliberatePersistentInheritanceConfrontationStalePersuasiveReassuringTruismPast Generations
Author:John F. Kennedy
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“We must formulate, with both imagination and restraint, a new approach to the Middle East - not pressing our case so hard that the Arabs feel their neutrality and nationalism are threatened ... while at the same time trying to hasten the inevitable Arab acceptance of the permanence of Israel ... We must ... seek a permanent settlement among Arabs and Israelis based not on an armed truce but on mutual self-interest.”

FeelsTryingSelfHardInterestImaginationCasesMiddleAcceptanceApproachIsraelEastInevitablePermanentPresidentialNationalismMutualMiddle EastRestraintThreatenedSelf InterestSettlementPermanenceNeutralityTruceNew Approach
Author:John F. Kennedy
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