“We stated before that men’s ideas change slowly and that a nation’s ideas change even more slowly. It takes shocks—hard shocks—to change a nation’s psychology.”
John F. Kennedy
Why England Slept (Primary source)
Why England Slept by John F. Kennedy is a concise yet incisive analysis of Britain’s military unpreparedness in the years leading up to World War II. Originally written as Kennedy’s senior thesis at Harvard University, the book examines the political, economic, and social factors that contributed to Britain’s failure to rearm and modernize its defenses during the 1930s, despite the growing threat of Nazi Germany.
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“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“The greatest danger of all would be to do nothing.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“There’s an old saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary sourceMore quotes by John F. Kennedy →
“Who will let you? That’s not the point. The point is, who will stop me?”
— Ayn Rand Primary source“We must be our own [friend] before we can be another’s.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“I am more afraid of our own blunders than of the enemy’s devices.”
— Thucydides Primary source“Today is yesterday’s pupil.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary sourceChange Psychology Ideas Shock Politics