Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.

Communism has never come to power in a country that was not disrupted by war or corruption, or both.

For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.

The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.

The best road to progress is freedom's road.

We are not here to curse the darkness, but to light the candle that can guide us thru that darkness to a safe and sane future.

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans - born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace.

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy.

Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind.

A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.

I hope that no American will waste his franchise and throw away his vote by voting either for me or against me solely on account of my religious affiliation. It is not relevant.

Israel was not created in order to disappear - Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of hope and the home of the brave. It can neither be broken by adversity nor demoralized by success. It carries the shield of democracy and it honors the sword of freedom.

Our growing softness, our increasing lack of physical fitness, is a menace to our security.

The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.

Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.

The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.

My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government - he promised Dad he'd go straight.

Unconditional war can no longer lead to unconditional victory. It can no longer serve to settle disputes... can no longer be of concern to great powers alone.

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

It is an unfortunate fact that we can secure peace only by preparing for war.

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 to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

I look forward to a great future for America - a future in which our country will match its military strength with our moral restraint, its wealth with our wisdom, its power with our purpose.

Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.

When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses.

It might be said now that I have the best of both worlds. A Harvard education and a Yale degree.

Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life.

I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered at the White House - with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.

Victory has a thousand fathers, but defeat is an orphan.

Mothers all want their sons to grow up to be president, but they don't want them to become politicians in the process.

Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.

We have the power to make this the best generation of mankind in the history of the world or to make it the last.

We would like to live as we once lived, but history will not permit it.

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.

The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards, as all paths are. The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.

The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge and the dissemination of truth.

The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.

If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity.

Man is still the most extraordinary computer of all.

A nation which has forgotten the quality of courage which in the past has been brought to public life is not as likely to insist upon or regard that quality in its chosen leaders today - and in fact we have forgotten.

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.

If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.

Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.

The tax on capital gains directly affects investment decisions, the mobility and flow of risk capital... the ease or difficulty experienced by new ventures in obtaining capital, and thereby the strength and potential for growth in the economy.

To state the facts frankly is not to despair the future nor indict the past. The prudent heir takes careful inventory of his legacies and gives a faithful accounting to those whom he owes an obligation of trust.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.

History is a relentless master. It has no present, only the past rushing into the future. To try to hold fast is to be swept aside.

Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners, and necessity has made us allies. Those whom God has so joined together, let no man put asunder.

America has tossed its cap over the wall of space.

We cannot expect that all nations will adopt like systems, for conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.

A child miseducated is a child lost.

Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.

There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.

My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.

Why should man's first flight to the moon be a matter of national competition? Why should the United States and the Soviet Union, in preparing for such expeditions, become involved in immense duplications of research, construction and expenditure?

In a time of domestic crisis, men of goodwill and generosity should be able to unite regardless of party or politics.

There is always inequality in life. Some men are killed in a war and some men are wounded and some men never leave the country. Life is unfair.

If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility - I welcome it.

The pay is good and I can walk to work.