John F. Kennedy Freedom Quotations

The best road to progress is freedom's road.

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.

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

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.

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

We cannot expect that all nations will adopt like systems, for 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.

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.

Our goal is not victory of might but the vindication of right - not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere and, we hope, around the world. God willing, that goal will be achieved.

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.

Liberty without Learning is always in peril and Learning without Liberty is always in vain.

The rights of every man are diminished when the rights of one man are threatened.

The most powerful single force in the world today is neither Communism nor Capitalism, neither the H-bomb nor the guided missile -- it is man's eternal desire to be free and independent.

Life in freedom is not easy, and democracy is not perfect.

The basis of self-government and freedom requires the development of character and self-restraint and perseverance and the long view. And these are qualities which require many years of training and education.

We shall pay any price, bear any burden, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

For to save mankind's future freedom, we must face up to any risk that is necessary. We will always seek peace--but we will never surrender.

While we shall negotiate freely, we shall not negotiate freedom.

And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.

Only an educated and informed people will be a free people.

The essence of Vanderbilt is still learning, the essence of its outlook is still liberty, and liberty and learning will be and must be the touchstones of Vanderbilt University and of any free university in this country or the world. I say two touchstones, yet they are almost inseparable, inseparable if not indistinguishable, for liberty without learning is always in peril, and learning without liberty is always in vain.

While we shall never weary in the defense of freedom, neither shall we ever abandon the pursuit of peace.

All students, members of the faculty, and public officials in both Mississippi and the Nation will be able, it is hoped, to return to their normal activities with full confidence in the integrity of American law. This is as it should be, for our Nation is founded on the principle that observance of the law is the eternal safeguard of liberty and defiance of the law is the surest road to tyranny.

I want every American to be free to stand up for his rights, even if sometimes he has to sit down for them.