“The greatest danger of all would be to do nothing.”
John F. Kennedy
Address During The Cuban Missile Crisis (Primary source)
On the evening of October 22, 1962, at 7:00 p.m., Kennedy spoke on television, revealing the evidence of Soviet missiles in Cuba and calling for their removal. He reported that the installations included medium-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying a nuclear warhead for more than 1,000 nautical miles—each capable of striking Washington, D.C., the Panama Canal, Cape Canaveral, Mexico City, or any other city in the southeastern part of the United States.
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“My fellow citizens: let no one doubt that this is a difficult and dangerous effort on which we have set out. No one can see precisely what course it will take or what costs or casualties will be incurred. Many months of sacrifice and self-discipline lie ahead—months in which our patience and our will will be tested—months in which many threats and denunciations will keep us aware of our dangers. But the greatest danger of all would be to do nothing.”
John F. Kennedy
“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“Ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“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.”
— John F. Kennedy Primary source“We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not admit them. And they may be less public.”
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“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.”
— Ernest Hemingway Primary source“Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson Disputed“Some people did not like this ceremonial style. But after all when you have to kill a man it costs nothing to be polite.”
— Winston Churchill Primary source“A lie stands on one leg, truth on two.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source