Thoughts by John F. Kennedy

May you find inspiration in these thoughts and quotes by John F. Kennedy from my large Daily Inspiration library of inspiring quotes and inspirational words.

Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.
- John F. Kennedy

When written in Chinese, the word "crisis"
is composed of two characters.
One represents danger and the other represents opportunity.
- John F. Kennedy

Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction.
- John F. Kennedy

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

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Thank You,
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Once you say you're going to settle for second,
that's what happens to you in life.
- John F. Kennedy

Do not pray for easy lives.
Pray to be stronger men.
- John F. Kennedy

I'm an idealist without illusions.
- John F. Kennedy

A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.
- John F. Kennedy

Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one's own beliefs.
Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.
- John F. Kennedy

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

The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.
- John F. Kennedy

A man does what he must - in spite of personal consequences,
in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures -
and that is the basis of all human morality.
- John F. Kennedy

The greater our knowledge increases
the more our ignorance unfolds.
- John F. Kennedy

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
- John F. Kennedy

The best road to progress is freedom's road.
- John F. Kennedy

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

Things do not happen. Things are made to happen.
- John F. Kennedy

We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch.
- John F. Kennedy

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

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.
- John F. Kennedy

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.
- John F. Kennedy

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

Our problems are man-made, therefore they may be solved by man.
And man can be as big as he wants.
No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings.
- John F. Kennedy

The goal of education is the advancement of knowledge
and the dissemination of truth.
- John F. Kennedy

The human mind is our fundamental resource.
- John F. Kennedy

A child miseducated is a child lost.
- John F. Kennedy

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.
- John F. Kennedy

We are tied to the ocean.
And when we go back to the sea,
whether it is to sail or to watch -
we are going back from whence we came.
- John F. Kennedy

Too often we... enjoy the comfort of opinion
without the discomfort of thought.
- John F. Kennedy

Modern cynics and skeptics... see no harm in paying those
to whom they entrust the minds of their children
a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom
they entrust the care of their plumbing.
- John F. Kennedy

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

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

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

And so, my fellow Americans,
ask not what your country can do for you;
ask what you can do for your country.
- John F. Kennedy

I think "Hail to the Chief" has a nice ring to it.
- John F. Kennedy

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.
- John F. Kennedy

The opposite of courage in our society
is not cowardice, it is conformity.
- Rollo May

Love allows your beloved the freedom to be unlike you.
Attachment asks for conformity to your needs and desires.
Love imposes no demands.
Attachment expresses an overwhelming demand - "Make me feel whole."
Love expands beyond the limits of two people.
Attachment tries to exclude everything but two people.
- Deepak Chopra in The Path to Love

If you stand up and be counted,
from time to time you may get yourself knocked down.
But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again.
A man flattened by conformity stays down for good.
- Thomas J. Watson

There are trivial truths and there are great truths.
The opposite of a trivial truth is plainly false.
The opposite of a great truth is also true.
- Niels Bohr

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement.
But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.
- Niels Bohr

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
- Elie Wiesel

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex...
It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage
to move in the opposite direction.
- Albert Einstein

A friend or co-worker shares a political,
religious, economic, or social opinion
that is opposite to yours -
does that drive a wedge between your hearts?
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference.
The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.
The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference.
And the opposite of life is not death, it's indifference.
- Elie Wiesel

Self-respect is often mistaken for arrogance
when in reality it is the opposite.
When we can recognize all our good qualities
as well as or faults with neutrality,
we can start to appreciate ourselves
as we would a dear friend
and experience the comfortable inner glow of respect.
To embrace the journey towards our full potential
we need to become our own loving teacher and coach.
Spurring ourselves on to become better human beings,
we develop true regard for ourselves,
and our life will become sacred.
- Osho

The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born -
that there is a genetic factor to leadership.
This myth asserts that people simply either
have certain charismatic qualities or not.
That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true.
Leaders are made rather than born.
- Warren G. Bennis

All great truths begin as blasphemies.
- George Bernard Shaw

Truths and roses have thorns about them.
- Henry David Thoreau

Our compassion and acts of selflessness
take us to the deeper truths.
- Amma

Most truths are so naked
that people feel sorry for them
and cover them up,
at least a little bit.
- Edward R. Murrow

When you are tempted to judge,
may you be reminded that we are ALL ONE,
and that every thought you think reverberates
across the universe touching everyone and everything.
- from the Simple Truths movie May You Be Blessed

Quotations help us remember the simple yet profound truths
that give life perspective and meaning.
- Criswell Freeman

Where there is great love,
there are always miracles.
- Willa Cather

The essence of life is not in
the great victories and grand failures,
but in the simple joys.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Silence is a source of great strength.
- Lao Tzu

The great gift of Easter is hope -
Christian hope which makes us have that confidence in God,
in his ultimate triumph, and in his goodness and love,
which nothing can shake.
- Basil C. Hume

Only he can take great resolves who has
indomitable faith in God and has fear of God.
- Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi

To lead a great life:
Dream, Take Action, Repeat.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

When we contemplate the whole globe as one great dewdrop,
striped and dotted with continents and islands,
flying through space with other stars
all singing and shining together as one,
the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty.
- John Muir

Forgiving is not a gift to someone else.
Forgiving is your gift to yourself -
a great gift - the gift of happiness.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Great people are those who make others feel
that they, too, can become great.
- Mark Twain

The challenge of living a great life is to create
a meaningful whole out of sometimes ill-fitting halves.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

The magic words for a great relationship are,
"I love you just the way you are."
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Don't let a little dispute injure a great relationship.
- Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama

There is a great future in front of you,
you can leave your past behind.
- Joel Osteen

If (s)he's an apple and you're an orange,
celebrate your differences -
make a great fruit salad.
Love isn't about being the same -
it's about being sweet with each other.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Know that you cannot create great new beginnings
until you sincerely celebrate the endings that precede them.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice,
and is never the result of selfishness.
- Napoleon Hill

I welcome change as a great adventure.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

Dare to dream of your great success.
Become intimate with those things
which deeply motivate you
and regularly work toward
the realization of that mission.
- Mary Anne Radmacher

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May the world be kind to you,
and may your own thoughts be gentle upon yourself.
- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

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