Berlin Wall

To quote John F. Kennedy

Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.

Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.

For of those to whom much is given, much is required.

One person can make a difference and every person should try.

All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talents.

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

Those who dare to fail miserably can achieve greatly.

Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.

The one unchangeable certainty is that nothing is certain or unchangeable.

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.

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

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.

We must face the fact that the United States is neither omnipotent nor omniscient; that we are only 6 percent of the world's population; that we cannot impose our will upon the other 94 percent of mankind; that we cannot right every wrong or reverse every adversity; and that therefore there cannot be an American solution to every world problem.

We shall be judged more by what we do at home than what we preach abroad.

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

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

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

Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men.

If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If we are weak, words will be of no help.

The war against hunger is truly mankind's war of liberation.

The basic problems facing the world today are not susceptible to a military solution.

I'm an idealist without illusions.

On this earth God's work is in our hands.

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

The best road to progress is freedom's road.

We are not against any man-or any nation-or any system-except as it is hostile to freedom.

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.

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

There is, in addition to a courage with which men die, a courage by which men must live.

In a time of turbulence and change, it is more true than ever that knowledge is power.

Liberty without learning is always in peril and learning without liberty is always in vain.

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.

The basis of effective government is public confidence, and that confidence is endangered when ethical standards falter or appear to falter.

Let us resolve to be masters, not the victims, of our history, controlling our own destiny without giving way to blind suspicions and emotions.

The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

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

Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

As they say on my own Cape Cod, a rising tide lifts all the boats.

We believe that if men have the talent to invent new machines that put men out of work, they have the talent to put those men back to work.

We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values.

For 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.

Unconditional war can no longer lead to unconditional victory.

Any system of government will work when everything is going well. It's the system that functions in the pinches that survive.

So let us begin anew - remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.

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.

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

The unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion.

Sometimes party loyalty asks too much.

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

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.

A nation reveals itself not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors, the men it remembers.

There is always inequity in life. Some men are killed in a war and some men are wounded, and some men never leave the country, and some men are stationed in the Antarctic and some are stationed in San Francisco. It’s very hard in military or in personal life to assure complete equality. Life is unfair.

A young man who does not have what it takes to perform military service is not likely to have what it takes to make a living.

An economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenue to balance our budget, just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits.

I don't think the intelligence reports are all that hot. Some days I get more out of the New York Times.

There is nothing, I think, more unfortunate than to have soft, chubby, fat-looking children who go to watch their school play basketball every Saturday and regard that as their week's exercise.

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.

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death.

If not us, who? If not now, when?

To quote Ronald Reagan

Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate! Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

The Soviet Union is an Evil Empire, and Soviet communism is the focus of evil in the modern world.

It is the Soviet Union that runs against the tide of human history by denying human freedom and human dignity to its citizens.

The West will not contain communism, it will transcend communism. We will not bother to denounce it, we'll dismiss it as a sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages are even now being written.

I believe this because the source of our strength in the quest for human freedom is not material, but spiritual. And because it knows no limitation, it must terrify and ultimately triumph over those who would enslave their fellow men.

Of the four wars in my lifetime, none came about because the U.S. was too strong.

Why should we be frightened? No people who have ever lived on this earth have fought harder, paid a higher price for freedom, or done more to advance the dignity of man than the living Americans, those Americans living in this land today.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.

Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.

Governments tend not to solve problems, only rearrange them.

Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them.

Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.

One way to make sure crime doesn't pay would be to let the government run it.

We must not look to government to solve our problems. Government is the problem.

We've lost sight of the rule that individual freedom and ingenuity are at the very core of everything that we've accomplished. Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.

Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.

No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth!

A government can't control the economy without controlling people.

Government has laid its hand on health, housing, farming, industry, commerce, education, and to an ever-increasing degree interferes with the people's right to know. Government tends to grow, government programs take on weight and momentum as public servants say, always with the best of intentions. But the truth is that outside of its legitimate function, government does nothing as well or economically as the private sector of the economy.

The size of the federal budget is not an appropriate barometer of social conscience or charitable concern.

We don't have a trillion-dollar debt because we haven't taxed enough; we have a trillion-dollar debt because we spend too much.

Why is it inflationary if the people keep their own money, and spend it the way they want to, [but] not inflationary if the government takes it and spends it the way it wants to?

History shows that when the taxes of a nation approach about 20% of the people's income, there begins to be a lack of respect for government. . . . When it reaches 25%, there comes an increase in lawlessness.

Governments don't reduce deficits by raising taxes on the people; governments reduce deficits by controlling spending and stimulating new wealth.

The taxpayer - that's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.

It's time we reduced the federal budget and left the family budget alone.

Every dollar the Federal Government does not take from us, every decision it does not make for us will make our economy stronger, our lives more abundant, our future more free.

It is not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work -- work with us, not over us; stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.

Millions of individuals making their own decisions in the marketplace will always allocate resources better than any centralized government planning process.

There are no constraints on the human mind, no walls around the human spirit, no barriers to our progress except those we ourselves erect.

There are no such things as limits to growth, because there are no limits to the human capacity for intelligence, imagination, and wonder.

We believe faith and freedom must be our guiding stars, for they show us truth, they make us brave, give us hope, and leave us wiser than we were.

Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon our adversaries in today's world do not have.

The ultimate determinant in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas—a trial of spiritual resolve: the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideals to which we are dedicated.

I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life.

Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.

Within the covers of the Bible are all the answers for all the problems men face.

We are never defeated unless we give up on God.

Without God, democracy will not and cannot long endure.

If we ever forget that we are One Nation Under God, then we will be a nation gone under.

Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Leave the rest to God.

Abortion is advocated only by persons who have themselves been born.

We have the duty to protect the life of an unborn child.

We cannot diminish the value of one category of human life -- the unborn -- without diminishing the value of all human life . . . there is no cause more important.

Make no mistake, abortion-on-demand is not a right guaranteed by the Constitution. No serious scholar, including one disposed to agree with the Court's result, has argued that the framers of the Constitution intended to create such a right.

We have the means to change the laws we find unjust or onerous. We cannot, as citizens, pick and choose the laws we will or will not obey.

Peace is not absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.

Peace is more than just the absence of war. True peace is justice, true peace is freedom. And true peace dictates the recognition of human rights.

History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.

People don't start wars, governments do.

Nations do not mistrust each other because they are armed; they are armed because they mistrust each other.

I've always believed that a lot of the trouble in the world would disappear if we were talking to each other instead of about each other.

I've often wondered, what if all of us in the world discovered that we were threatened by a greater power from outer space from another planet -- wouldn't we all of a sudden find that we didn't have any differences between us at all?

Putting people first has always been America's secret weapon. It's the way we've kept the spirit of our revolutions alive -- a spirit that drives us to dream and dare, and take great risks for a greater good.

We think there is a parallel between the Federal involvement in education and the decline in quality over recent years.

Let us resolve that we will stop spreading dependency and start spreading opportunity; that we will stop spreading bondage and start spreading freedom.

The best minds in government? If any were, business would hire them away.

Excellence does not begin in Washington.

Poverty is a career for lot's of well paid people.

Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.

The family has always been the cornerstone of American society. Our families nurture, preserve, and pass on to each succeeding generation the values we share and cherish, values that are the foundation of our freedoms.

We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone.

The United States is unique because we are an empire of ideals.

We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.

It is time to realize we are too great a nation for small dreams. We're not -- as some would have us believe -- doomed to an inevitable fate.

Approximately 80% of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation, so let's not go overboard in setting and enforcing tough emission standards from man-made sources.

Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do.

There is today in the United States as much forest as there was when Washington was at Valley Forge.

All the waste in a year from a nuclear power plant can be stored under a desk.

There were so many candidates on the platform that there were not enough promises to go around.

Middle age is when you're faced with two temptations and you choose the one that will get you home by nine o'clock.

I've never been able to understand why a Republican contributor is a 'fat cat' and a Democratic contributor of the same amount of money is a 'public-spirited philanthropist'.

We're the party that wants to see an America in which people still can get rich.

The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant; it's just that they know so much that isn't so.

Whatever else history may say about me when I'm gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears.