“We have had our failures, but so have others, even if they do not admit them. And they may be less public.”
John F. Kennedy
Address at Rice University on the Nation’s Space Effort (Primary source)
A defining statement of America’s ambition during the Space Race. Delivered at Rice Stadium in Houston, Texas, the speech rallied public support for the Apollo program and the goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the 1960s—a direct response to Soviet advances in space exploration.
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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“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.”
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“The bell calls others to church, but itself never minds the sermon.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“The proud hate pride—in others.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source“It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.”
— Eleanor Roosevelt Primary source“If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher’s stone.”
— Benjamin Franklin Primary source