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When power leads man towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses. For art establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment.

— John F. Kennedy

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Poetry

More quotes by John F. Kennedy

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

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

This nation has tossed its cap over the wall of space, and we have no choice but to follow it.

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

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

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There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet.

Ralph Waldo Emerson Nature (1836)

Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality.

T. S. Eliot Tradition and the Individual Talent (1919)

Poetry, unlike oratory, should not aim at clarity...but be dense with meaning, 'something to be chewed and digested'.

George Chapman Ovid's Banquet of Sense (1595)

I am no poet, but if you think for yourselves, as I proceed, the facts will form a poem in your minds.

Michael Faraday

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: John F. Kennedy (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.