For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground.
I pray we are still a young and courageous nation, that we have not grown so old and so fat and so prosperous that all we can think about is to sit back with our arms around our money bags. If we choose to do that I have no doubt that the smoldering fires will burst into flame and consume us -- dollars and all.
We live in a world that has narrowed into a neighborhood before it has broadened into a brotherhood.
The separation of church and state is a source of strength, but the conscience of our nation does not call for separation between men of state and faith in the Supreme Being.
It is the genius of our Constitution that under its shelter of enduring institutions and rooted principles there is ample room for the rich fertility of American political invention.
I'd rather give my life than be afraid to give it.
The noblest search is the search for excellence.
A man without a vote is man without protection.
The guns and bombs, the rockets and the warships, all are symbols of human failure.
Boys, I may not know much, but I know chicken shit from chicken salad.
Doing what's right isn't the problem. It is knowing what's right.
You aren't learning anything when you're talking.
As man draws nearer to the stars, why should he not also draw nearer to his neighbor?
We must open the doors of opportunity.
Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.
If we are to live together in peace, we must come to know each other better.
Son, in politics you've got to learn that overnight chicken shit can turn to chicken salad.
If you're I politics and you can't tell when you walk into a room who's for you and who's against you, then you're in the wrong line of work.
The hungry world cannot be fed until and unless the growth of its resources and the growth of its population come into balance. Each man and woman-and each nation --must make decisions of conscience and policy in the face of this great problem.
The exercise of power in this century has meant for all of us in the United States not arrogance, but agony.
The men who have guided the destiny of the United States have found the strength for their tasks by going to their knees. This private unity of public men and their God is an enduring source of reassurance for the people of America.
Jerry Ford is so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time.
I'm the only president you've got.
A president's hardest task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right.
The poor suffer twice at the rioter's hands. First, his destructive fury scars their neighborhood; second, the atmosphere of accommodation and consent is changed to one of hostility and resentment.
A rioter with a Molotov cocktail in his hands is not fighting for civil rights any more than a Klansman with a sheet on his back and a mask on his face.
The great society is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goods than with the quantity of their goods.
The moon and other celestial bodies should be free for exploration and use by all countries. No country should be permitted to advance a claim of sovereignty.
Heck by the time a man scratches his behind, clears his throat, and tells me how smart he is, we've already wasted fifteen minutes.
The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents. It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community. It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods.
There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.
We come to reason, not to dominate. We do not seek to have our way, but to find a common way.
I am going to build the kind of nation that President Roosevelt hoped for, President Truman worked for, and President Kennedy died for.
To hunger for use and to go unused is the worst hunger of all.
There can no longer be anyone too poor to vote.
The world has narrowed to a neighborhood before it has broadened to a brotherhood.