“It is compromise that prevents each set of reformers from crushing the group on the extreme opposite end of the political spectrum.”
John F. Kennedy
Profiles in Courage (Primary source)
Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy is a Pulitzer Prize-winning volume that examines the political bravery of eight U.S. senators who risked their careers to uphold their principles. Published while Kennedy was a senator, the book reflects his belief in the importance of moral integrity in public service, even in the face of intense opposition or electoral consequences.
More about “Profiles in Courage” →
“It is compromise that prevents each set of reformers—the wets and the drys, the one-worlders and the isolationists, the viviseclionists and the anti-vivisectionists—from crushing the group on the extreme opposite end of the political spectrum. The fanatics and extremists and even those conscientiously devoted to haid and fast principles are always disappointed at the failure of their Government to rush to implement all of their principles and to denounce those of their opponents. But the legislator has some responsibility to conciliate those opposing forces within his state and party and to represent them in the larger clash of interests on the national level; and he alone knows that there are few if any issues where all the truth and all the right and all the angels are on one side.”
John F. Kennedy
“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“Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“The idea that Britain loses every battle except the last has proved correct so many times in the past that the average Englishman is unwilling to make great personal sacrifices until the danger is overwhelmingly apparent.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary sourceMore quotes by John F. Kennedy →
“Books are the best of things, well used; abused, among the worst. What is the right use? What is the one end which all means go to effect? They are for nothing but to inspire.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Primary source“When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source“One section of our country believes slavery is right, and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong, and ought not to be extended.”
— Abraham Lincoln Primary source“We cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individual. Toward this end, each of us must work toward his own highest development, accepting at the same time his share of responsibility in the general life of humanity—our particular duty being to help those to whom we feel we can be most useful.”
— Marie Curie Secondary source