My thought is a tender leaf that sways in every direction and finds pleasure in its swaying.
Your thought is an ancient dogma that cannot change you nor can you change it.
My thought is new, and it tests me and I test it morn and eve.
You have your thought and I have mine.
Your thought advocates fame and show.
Mine counsels me and implores me to cast aside notoriety and treat it like a grain of sand cast upon the shore of eternity.
Your thought instills in your heart arrogance and superiority.
Mine plants within me love for peace and the desire for independence.
Your thought begets dreams of palaces with furniture of sandalwood studded with jewels, and beds made of twisted silk threads.
My thought speaks softly in my ears, "Be clean in body and spirit even if you have nowhere to lay your head."
Your thought makes you aspire to titles and offices.
Mine exhorts me to humble service.
Your thought describes laws, courts, judges, punishments.
Mine explains that when man makes a law, he either violates it or obeys it.
If there is a basic law, we are all one before it.
He who disdains the mean is himself mean.
He who vaunts his scorn of the sinful vaunts his disdain of all humanity.
Your thought advocates Judaism, Brahmanism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam.
In my thought there is only one universal religion,
whose varied paths are but the fingers of the loving hand of the Supreme Being.
In your thought there are the rich, the poor, and the beggared.
My thought holds that there are no riches but life;
that we are all beggars, and no benefactor exists save life herself.
Your thought sees power in armies, cannons, battleships, submarines, aeroplanes, and poison gas.
But mine asserts that power lies in reason, resolution, and truth.
No matter how long the tyrant endures,
he will be the loser at the end.
Your thought differentiates between pragmatist and idealist,
between the part and the whole,
between the mystic and materialist.
Mine realizes that life is one
and its weights, measures and tables
do not coincide with your weights, measures and tables.
He whom you suppose an idealist may be a practical man.
Friday, July 10, 2009
My soul gave me counsel
My Soul gave me good counsel,
Teaching me to love what the people abhor
And to show good will toward the one they hate.
It showed me that Love is a property
Not of the lover but of the beloved.
Before my Soul taught me,
Love was for me
A delicate thread stretched between two adjacent pegs,
But now it has been transformed into a halo;
Its first is its last, and its last is its first.
It encompasses every being,
Slowly expanding to embrace all that ever will be.
My yearning is my cup,
My burning thirst is my drink,
And my solitude is my intoxication;
I do not and shall not quench my thirst.
But in this burning that is never extinguished
Is a joy that never wanes.
My Soul gave me good counsel,
Teaching me to touch what has never taken corporeal form or crystallized.
It made me understand
That touching something is half the task of comprehending it,
And that what we grasp therein
Is part of what we desire from it.
My Soul gave me good counsel,
Teaching me not to measure time by saying,
"It was yesterday, and will be tomorrow."
Before my Soul taught me,
I imagined the past as an era not to be met with,
And the future as an age that I would never witness.
But now I know
That in the brief moment of the present,
All time exists,
Including everything that is in time
All that is eagerly anticipated, achieved, or realized.
My Soul gave me good counsel,
Teaching me not to define a place by saying
'Here' or 'there'.
Before my Soul taught me,
I thought that when I was in any place on the earth
I was remote from every other spot.
But now I have learned that the place where I subsist is all places,
And the space I occupy is all intervals.
My Soul gave me good counsel,
Teaching me never to delight in praise
Or to be distressed by reproach.
Before my Soul taught me,
I doubted the value of my accomplishments
Until the passing days sent someone
Who would extol or disparage them.
But now I know that trees blossom in the spring
And give their fruits in the summer without any desire for accolades.
And they scatter their leaves abroad in the fall
And denude themselves in the winter without fear of reproof.
My Soul gave me good counsel,
Teaching me and demonstrating to me
That I am not exalted over the panhandler
Nor less than the mighty.
Before my Soul taught me,
I thought people consisted of two types:
The weak, whom I pitied and disregarded,
And the powerful, whom I followed or against I rebelled.
Now, I have discovered
That I was formed as one individual from the same substance
From which all human beings were created.
I am made up of the same elements as they are,
And my pattern is theirs.
My struggles are theirs, and my path is theirs.
My Soul gave me good counsel,
Teaching me that
The lamp which I carry does not belong to me,
And the song that I sing was not generated from within me.
Even if I walk with light, I am not the light;
And if I am a taut-stringed flute, I am not the flute player.
All this, my Soul taught me in a single night
Where I met and confronted my inner most fear
Teaching me to love what the people abhor
And to show good will toward the one they hate.
It showed me that Love is a property
Not of the lover but of the beloved.
Before my Soul taught me,
Love was for me
A delicate thread stretched between two adjacent pegs,
But now it has been transformed into a halo;
Its first is its last, and its last is its first.
It encompasses every being,
Slowly expanding to embrace all that ever will be.
My yearning is my cup,
My burning thirst is my drink,
And my solitude is my intoxication;
I do not and shall not quench my thirst.
But in this burning that is never extinguished
Is a joy that never wanes.
My Soul gave me good counsel,
Teaching me to touch what has never taken corporeal form or crystallized.
It made me understand
That touching something is half the task of comprehending it,
And that what we grasp therein
Is part of what we desire from it.
My Soul gave me good counsel,
Teaching me not to measure time by saying,
"It was yesterday, and will be tomorrow."
Before my Soul taught me,
I imagined the past as an era not to be met with,
And the future as an age that I would never witness.
But now I know
That in the brief moment of the present,
All time exists,
Including everything that is in time
All that is eagerly anticipated, achieved, or realized.
My Soul gave me good counsel,
Teaching me not to define a place by saying
'Here' or 'there'.
Before my Soul taught me,
I thought that when I was in any place on the earth
I was remote from every other spot.
But now I have learned that the place where I subsist is all places,
And the space I occupy is all intervals.
My Soul gave me good counsel,
Teaching me never to delight in praise
Or to be distressed by reproach.
Before my Soul taught me,
I doubted the value of my accomplishments
Until the passing days sent someone
Who would extol or disparage them.
But now I know that trees blossom in the spring
And give their fruits in the summer without any desire for accolades.
And they scatter their leaves abroad in the fall
And denude themselves in the winter without fear of reproof.
My Soul gave me good counsel,
Teaching me and demonstrating to me
That I am not exalted over the panhandler
Nor less than the mighty.
Before my Soul taught me,
I thought people consisted of two types:
The weak, whom I pitied and disregarded,
And the powerful, whom I followed or against I rebelled.
Now, I have discovered
That I was formed as one individual from the same substance
From which all human beings were created.
I am made up of the same elements as they are,
And my pattern is theirs.
My struggles are theirs, and my path is theirs.
My Soul gave me good counsel,
Teaching me that
The lamp which I carry does not belong to me,
And the song that I sing was not generated from within me.
Even if I walk with light, I am not the light;
And if I am a taut-stringed flute, I am not the flute player.
All this, my Soul taught me in a single night
Where I met and confronted my inner most fear
Sons of GOD
How amazing time is, and how amazing we are.
Time has been transformed, and we have changed;
It has advanced and set us in motion;
It has unveiled its face,
Inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration.
Yesterday we complained of time and feared it,
But today we love and embrace it.
Indeed, we have begun to perceive its purposes and characteristics,
And to comprehend its secrets and enigmas.
Yesterday we obeyed kings
And bent our necks before emperors.
But today we kneel only to truth,
Follow only beauty,
And obey only love.
All that you see was and is for your sake.
The numerous books, uncanny markings,
And beautiful thoughts are the ghosts of souls who preceded you.
The speech they weave is a link between you and your human siblings.
The consequences that cause sorrow and rapture
Are the seeds that the past has sown
In the field of the soul, and by which the future shall profit.
Time has been transformed, and we have changed;
It has advanced and set us in motion;
It has unveiled its face,
Inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration.
Yesterday we complained of time and feared it,
But today we love and embrace it.
Indeed, we have begun to perceive its purposes and characteristics,
And to comprehend its secrets and enigmas.
Yesterday we obeyed kings
And bent our necks before emperors.
But today we kneel only to truth,
Follow only beauty,
And obey only love.
All that you see was and is for your sake.
The numerous books, uncanny markings,
And beautiful thoughts are the ghosts of souls who preceded you.
The speech they weave is a link between you and your human siblings.
The consequences that cause sorrow and rapture
Are the seeds that the past has sown
In the field of the soul, and by which the future shall profit.
Poems By Khalil Gilbran
Love
O love, whose lordly hand
And raised my hunger and my thirst
To dignity and pride,
Let not the strong in me and the constant
Eat the bread or drink the wine
That tempts my weaker self.
Let me rather starve,
And let my heart parch with thirst,
And let me die and perish,
Ere I stretch my hand
To a cup you did not fill,
Or a bowl you did not bless.
Poems by Khalil Gilbran
My friend
My friend, I am not what I seem.
A care-woven garment that protects me from thy questionings
And thee from my negligence.
The "I" in me, my friend, dwells in the house of silence,
And therein it shall remain for ever more,
Unperceived, unapproachable.
I would not have thee believe in what I say nor trust in what I do
For my words are nothing but thy own thoughts in sound
And my deeds thy own hopes in action.
I know faces,
Because I look through the fabric my own eye weaves,
And behold the reality beneath.
Poems by Kahlil Gilbran
Vain Belief
Vain are the beliefs and teachings that make man miserable, and false is the goodness that leads him into sorrow and despair, for it is man's purpose to be happy on this earth and lead the way to felicity and preach its gospel wherever he goes. He who does not see the kingdom of heaven in this life will never see it in the coming life.
Kahlil Gibran
Kahlil Gibran was born in 1883 in the city of Besharri near the biblical cedars of Lebanon. In boyhood he immigrated to Boston where he began his career as artist and author. His books, written in both arabic and english, have been translated into numerous languages and are widely quoted. Gibran's book The Prophet, is one of the most widely read books of the 20th century.
Kahlil Gibran's Legacy is the powerful simplicity of his words, which continue to inspire those who long for peace, search for love, and strive for justice. "Work is Love made visible" he wrote in The Prophet. Gibran died in New York City on April 10, 1931. Before his death, Gibran expressed the wish to be buried in his place of birth, Besharri. Almost one centry today, Gibran remains the most popular Lebanese-American writer ever.
Kahlil Gibran's Legacy is the powerful simplicity of his words, which continue to inspire those who long for peace, search for love, and strive for justice. "Work is Love made visible" he wrote in The Prophet. Gibran died in New York City on April 10, 1931. Before his death, Gibran expressed the wish to be buried in his place of birth, Besharri. Almost one centry today, Gibran remains the most popular Lebanese-American writer ever.
here are some of his quotes
Q1
I have been thinking of writing, giving forms to the one thought that occupied my days and nights and changed my inner life (...) God and the Earth and the soul of man.
Q2
I have always thought that a revelation is simply the discovery of an element in us, in our larger self, the self that knows what we do not know, and feels that which we dare not feel. And what we call growth is nothing but knowledge of that larger self.
Q3
You may tie my hands with chains, and my feet with shackles, and put me in the dark prison, but you shall not enslave my thinking, for it is free, like the breeze in the spacious sky.
Q3
I have learned silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.
Q4
My brother WHOEVER you are, whether you worship in your church, kneel in your temple or pray in your mosque you and I are children of one faith, fingers of the loving hand of one supreme being, a hand extended to all.
Q5
When I paint a picture, I try to give the picture a presence. It is the coming together of certain elements in a certain way, as if they made a sort of path along which God can come through to our consciousness.
Q6
I use hate as a weapon to defend myself; had I been strong, I would never have needed that kind of weapon.
Q7
God does not like to be worshipped by an ignorant man who imitates someone else.
Q8
Hell is not in torture; Hell is in an empty heart.
Q9
Remember, one just man causes the Devil greater affliction than a million blind believers.
Q10
The soul is a golden ring detached from the chain of divinity.
Q11
If a man be just, no persecution can torture him, and no tyranny can destroy him. Socrates drank down his hemlock with a smile on his face, and Paul rejoiced being stoned.
Q12
Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in a desert.
POETRY : FREEDOM
From the source of the Nile to the mouth of Ferrat
From the borders of the Arab Gezirah to the mountains of Lebanon
From the shores of the Gulf to the borders of the Sahara
All eyes will turn towards you, overwhelmed by the warmth of the heart
So,
Look at us FREEDOM
Hear us
Make us strong so we can live
Or make our enemy stronger so we can vanish and rest.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Ronald Reagan
Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way.Ronald Wilson Reagan (1911-02-06 – 2004-06-05) was an American actor and politician, who became 33rd Governor of California and 40th President of the United States; He was the husband of Jane Wyman (1940–1948) and Nancy Reagan (married in 1952).Q1
Whatever else history may say about me when I’m gone, I hope it will record that I appealed to your best hopes, not your worst fears; to your confidence rather than your doubts. My dream is that you will travel the road ahead with liberty’s lamp guiding your steps and opportunity’s arm steadying your way.
Q2
One legislator accused me of having a nineteenth-century attitude on law and order. That is a totally false charge. I have an eighteenth-century attitude...
Q3
The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is.
Q4
I'm convinced that today the majority of Americans want what those first Americans wanted: A better life for themselves and their children; a minimum of government authority.
Q5
Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
Q6
A troubled and afflicted mankind looks to us, pleading for us to keep our rendezvous with destiny; that we will uphold the principles of self-reliance, self-discipline, morality, and, above all, responsible liberty for every individual that we will become that shining city on a hill.
Q7
I believe with all my heart that our first priority must be world peace, and that use of force is always and only a last resort, when everything else has failed, and then only with regard to our national security.
Q8
You and I are told increasingly that we have to choose between a left or right, but I would like to suggest that there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down...
Q9
They say we offer simple answers to complex problems. Well, perhaps there is a simple answer — not an easy answer — but simple.
Q10
Abraham Lincoln freed the black man. In many ways, Dr. King freed the white man...
Q11
The defense policy of the United States is based on a simple premise: The United States does not start fights. We will never be an aggressor.
Q12
The only way there could be war is if they start it; we're not going to start a war.
Q13
We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free.
Q14
It is time for us to realize that we're too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams.
Q15
We must all educate ourselves to the reality of the horrors taking place.
Q16
The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted, it belongs to the brave.
Q17
Cannot swords be turned to plowshares? Can we and all nations not live in peace? In our obsession with antagonisms of the moment, we often forget how much unites all the members of humanity.
Q18
Freedom is the right to question and change the established way of doing things.
Q19
I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited.
Q20
Once you begin a great movement, there's no telling where it will end. We meant to change a nation, and instead, we changed a world.
Q21
America's best days are yet to come. Our proudest moments are yet to be. Our most glorious achievements are just ahead.
Q22
Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.
Q23
Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no responsibility at the other.
Q24
Welfare's purpose should be to eliminate, as far as possible, the need for its own existence.
Q25
Let it show on the record that when the American people cried out for economic help, Jimmy Carter took refuge behind a dictionary. Well, if it's a definition he wants, I'll give him one. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.
Q26
Let it show on the record that when the American people cried out for economic help, Jimmy Carter took refuge behind a dictionary. Well, if it's a definition he wants, I'll give him one. A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.
Q27
History teaches that wars begin when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.
Q28
Recognizing the equality of all men and women, we are willing and able to lift the weak, cradle those who hurt, and nurture the bonds that tie us together as one nation under God.
Q29
There is no limit to what a man can do or where he can go if he doesn't mind who gets the credit.
Q30
I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us no matter what we do. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing.
Q31
We have every right to dream heroic dreams. Those who say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look.
Q32
we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women.
Q33
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.
Q34
The ten most dangerous words in the English language are "Hi, I'm from the government, and I'm here to help."
Q35
Information is the oxygen of the modern age. It seeps through the walls topped by barbed wire, it wafts across the electrified borders. ...
Q36
I know in my heart that man is good. That what is right will always eventually triumph. And there's purpose and worth to each and every life.
John F, Kennedy - QUOTES
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. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it — and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Q1
The New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises — it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them.
Q2
I can assure you that every degree of mind and spirit that I possess will be devoted to the long-range interests of the United States and to the cause of freedom around the world.
Q3
I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely.
Q4
We must face problems which do not lend themselves to easy or quick or permanent solutions ... there cannot be an American solution to every world problem...
Q5
When power leads men towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations...
Q6
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.
Q7
All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
Q8
Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.
Q9
There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again.
Q10
If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can make the world safe for diversity.
Q11
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.
Q12
VThe Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word "crisis". One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger — but recognize the opportunity.
Q13
If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."
Q14
If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."
Q15
For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each of us, recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state, our success or failure, in whatever office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions: First, were we truly men of courage… Second, were we truly men of judgment… Third, were we truly men of integrity… Finally were we truly men of dedication?
Q16
Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder.
Q17
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Q18
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
Q19
When power leads men 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.
Q20
The great artist is thus a solitary figure. He has, as Frost said, a lover's quarrel with the world. In pursuing his perceptions of reality, he must often sail against the currents of his time.
Q21
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
Q22
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
Q23
With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.
Q24
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. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it — and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Q25
And so it is to the printing press--to the recorder of man's deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news--that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.
Q26
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.
Q27
Terror is not a new weapon. Throughout history it has been used by those who could not prevail, either by persuasion or example. But inevitably they fail, either because men are not afraid to die for a life worth living, or because the terrorists themselves came to realize that free men cannot be frightened by threats, and that aggression would meet its own response.
Q28
If we all can persevere, if we can in every land and office look beyond our own shores and ambitions, then surely the age will dawn in which the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.
Q29
The greater our knowledge increases the greater our ignorace unfolds
Q30
I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived — yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace.
Q31
If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.
Q32
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 and ask "why not?".
Q33
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
Q34
Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
Q35
Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.
Q36
Freedom is not merely a word or an abstract theory, but the most effective instrument for advancing the welfare of man.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Q1
The New Frontier of which I speak is not a set of promises — it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intend to ask of them.
Q2
I can assure you that every degree of mind and spirit that I possess will be devoted to the long-range interests of the United States and to the cause of freedom around the world.
Q3
I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely.
Q4
We must face problems which do not lend themselves to easy or quick or permanent solutions ... there cannot be an American solution to every world problem...
Q5
When power leads men towards arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations...
Q6
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.
Q7
All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.
Q8
Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.
Q9
There is no strife, no prejudice, no national conflict in outer space as yet. Its conquest deserves the best of all mankind, and its opportunity for peaceful cooperation many never come again.
Q10
If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can make the world safe for diversity.
Q11
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.
Q12
VThe Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word "crisis". One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger — but recognize the opportunity.
Q13
If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."
Q14
If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."
Q15
For of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each of us, recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state, our success or failure, in whatever office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions: First, were we truly men of courage… Second, were we truly men of judgment… Third, were we truly men of integrity… Finally were we truly men of dedication?
Q16
Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder.
Q17
The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic.
Q18
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
Q19
When power leads men 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.
Q20
The great artist is thus a solitary figure. He has, as Frost said, a lover's quarrel with the world. In pursuing his perceptions of reality, he must often sail against the currents of his time.
Q21
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
Q22
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
Q23
With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.
Q24
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. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it — and the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Q25
And so it is to the printing press--to the recorder of man's deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news--that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.
Q26
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.
Q27
Terror is not a new weapon. Throughout history it has been used by those who could not prevail, either by persuasion or example. But inevitably they fail, either because men are not afraid to die for a life worth living, or because the terrorists themselves came to realize that free men cannot be frightened by threats, and that aggression would meet its own response.
Q28
If we all can persevere, if we can in every land and office look beyond our own shores and ambitions, then surely the age will dawn in which the strong are just and the weak secure and the peace preserved.
Q29
The greater our knowledge increases the greater our ignorace unfolds
Q30
I have, therefore, chosen this time and this place to discuss a topic on which ignorance too often abounds and the truth is too rarely perceived — yet it is the most important topic on earth: world peace.
Q31
If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.
Q32
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 and ask "why not?".
Q33
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
Q34
Too often we enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.
Q35
Liberty without learning is always in peril; learning without liberty is always in vain.
Q36
Freedom is not merely a word or an abstract theory, but the most effective instrument for advancing the welfare of man.
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963.
After Kennedy's military service as commander of the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 during World War II in the South Pacific, his aspirations turned political. With the encouragement and grooming of his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., Kennedy represented Massachusetts's 11th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 as a Democrat, and in the U.S. Senate from 1953 until 1960. Kennedy defeated then Vice President and Republican candidate Richard Nixon in the 1960 U.S. presidential election, one of the closest in American history. He was the second-youngest President (after Theodore Roosevelt), and the youngest elected to the office, at the age of 43.[1][2] Kennedy is the first and only Catholic president, and is the only president to have won a Pulitzer Prize.[3] Events during his administration include the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, the African American Civil Rights Movement and early events of the Vietnam War.
Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the crime but was shot and killed two days later by Jack Ruby before he could be put on trial. The Warren Commission and the 1979 House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that Oswald was the assassin, with the HSCA allowing for the probability of conspiracy. The event proved to be an important moment in U.S. history because of its impact on the nation and the ensuing political repercussions. Today, Kennedy continues to rank highly in public opinion ratings of former U.S. presidents.
Presidency
John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President at noon on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural address he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens, famously saying, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." He also asked the nations of the world to join together to fight what he called the "common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself." In closing, he expanded on his desire for greater internationalism: "Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you."
Foreign policy
President Kennedy's foreign policy was dominated by American-Soviet relations. Much foreign policy revolved around proxy interventions in the context of the early stage Cold War.
After Kennedy's military service as commander of the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 during World War II in the South Pacific, his aspirations turned political. With the encouragement and grooming of his father, Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., Kennedy represented Massachusetts's 11th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 as a Democrat, and in the U.S. Senate from 1953 until 1960. Kennedy defeated then Vice President and Republican candidate Richard Nixon in the 1960 U.S. presidential election, one of the closest in American history. He was the second-youngest President (after Theodore Roosevelt), and the youngest elected to the office, at the age of 43.[1][2] Kennedy is the first and only Catholic president, and is the only president to have won a Pulitzer Prize.[3] Events during his administration include the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the building of the Berlin Wall, the Space Race, the African American Civil Rights Movement and early events of the Vietnam War.
Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the crime but was shot and killed two days later by Jack Ruby before he could be put on trial. The Warren Commission and the 1979 House Select Committee on Assassinations concluded that Oswald was the assassin, with the HSCA allowing for the probability of conspiracy. The event proved to be an important moment in U.S. history because of its impact on the nation and the ensuing political repercussions. Today, Kennedy continues to rank highly in public opinion ratings of former U.S. presidents.
Presidency
John F. Kennedy was sworn in as the 35th President at noon on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural address he spoke of the need for all Americans to be active citizens, famously saying, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." He also asked the nations of the world to join together to fight what he called the "common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself." In closing, he expanded on his desire for greater internationalism: "Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you."
Foreign policy
President Kennedy's foreign policy was dominated by American-Soviet relations. Much foreign policy revolved around proxy interventions in the context of the early stage Cold War.
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