Skip to content

John F. Kennedy on Freedom

1917–1963 United States

← All quotes by John F. Kennedy

22 quotes

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

Without debate, without criticism, no Administration and no country can succeed — and no republic can survive.

The great revolution in the history of man, past, present and future, is the revolution of those determined to be free.

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.

Freedom is not merely a word or an abstract theory, but the most effective instrument for advancing the welfare of man.

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

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.

With your help, and the help of other free men, this crisis can be surmounted. Freedom can prevail and peace can endure.

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

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.

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

For the unity of freedom has never relied on uniformity of opinion.

Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was "civis Romanus sum." Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Berliner."

Conformity is the jailor of freedom.

his Address to the United Nations General Assembly (1961)

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.

Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us.

But life is never easy. There is work to be done and obligations to be met — obligations to truth, to justice, and to liberty.

The truth doesn't die. The desire for liberty cannot be fully suppressed.

Secondly, what does justice require? In the end, it requires liberty.

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.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: John F. Kennedy (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.