Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live.

If any man claims the Negro should be content... let him say he would willingly change the color of his skin and go to live in the Negro section of a large city. Then and only then has he a right to such a claim.

I believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil.

All of us might wish at times that we lived in a more tranquil world, but we don't. And if our times are difficult and perplexing, so are they challenging and filled with opportunity.

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.

I was the seventh of nine children. When you come from that far down you have to struggle to survive.

I thought they'd get one of us, but Jack, after all he's been through, never worried about it I thought it would be me.

Now I can go back to being ruthless again.

Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.

It is not enough to understand, or to see clearly. The future will be shaped in the arena of human activity, by those willing to commit their minds and their bodies to the task.

One-fifth of the people are against everything all the time.

People say I am ruthless. I am not ruthless. And if I find the man who is calling me ruthless, I shall destroy him.

What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists, is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.

But suppose God is black? What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response?

Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world.

There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why... I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?

Whenever men take the law into their own hands, the loser is the law. And when the law loses, freedom languishes.

The free way of life proposes ends, but it does not prescribe means.

Ultimately, America's answer to the intolerant man is diversity, the very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired.

Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies.

Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves. What is equally true is that every community gets the kind of law enforcement it insists on.

Tragedy is a tool for the living to gain wisdom, not a guide by which to live.

A high standard of living cannot remain the exclusive possession of the West - and the sooner we can help other peoples to develop their resources, raise their living standards, and strengthen their national independence, the safer the world will be for us all.

America's answer to the intolerant man is diversity - the very diversity which our heritage of religious freedom has inspired.

American books reflect our common heritage with many other nations and their influence upon our culture. The influences are endless, linking us with the rest of the world. Thus, they are good ambassadors for us.

Circumstances of crimes vary. So do motives. And so do prospects for rehabilitation. The number of imponderables makes it impossible to sentence by formula and still sentence justly.

Communism everywhere has paid the price of rigidity and dogmatism. Freedom has the strength of compassion and flexibility. It has, above all, the strength of intellectual honesty.

Desegregation of schools does not automatically transform them into better schools. It is only a step. The larger goal is to see that the education of our youth is not merely desegregated, but that it is excellent.

Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

Elections remind us not only of the rights but the responsibilities of citizenship in a democracy.

Even as my father grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, signs told him: 'No Irish Need Apply.'

Every American has the duty to obey the law and the right to expect that the law will be enforced.

Every generation inherits a world it never made; and, as it does so, it automatically becomes the trustee of that world for those who come after. In due course, each generation makes its own accounting to its children.

Everything that makes man's life worthwhile - family, work, education, a place to rear one's children and a place to rest one's head - all this depends on the decisions of government; all can be swept away by a government which does not heed the demands of its people, and I mean all of its people.

Freedom possesses many meanings. It speaks not merely in terms of political and religious liberty but also in terms of economic and social progress.

From the first moment of independence, the United States has been dedicated to innovation as a way of government and a way of life.

Good union leaders make excellent public leaders in the legislative and executive branches.

Hand in hand with freedom of speech goes the power to be heard, to share in the decisions of government which shape men's lives.

I am ashamed to report that my father, who is 73, has never been beaten by any of his four sons in golf. We have all become resigned to the fact that he has determined that he won't be beaten.

I am deeply impressed with the gravity and wisdom with which most federal judges approach the responsibility of sentencing. It is a difficult, soul-searching task at best.

I believe indeterminate sentencing can be extremely useful, but I also believe that any such system should always take into consideration the special knowledge as to the facts in a case which only the trial judge possesses.

I can understand the Chinese Wall: it was built as a defense against marauders. But a wall such as that in Berlin, built to prevent people from seeking freedom, is almost beyond comprehension.

I come from a family that has always emphasized and enjoyed sports - golf, tennis, football, baseball and the rest.

I do not run for the presidency merely to oppose any man, but to propose new policies. I run because I am convinced that this country is on a perilous course and because I have such strong feelings about what must be done, and I feel that I'm obliged to do all I can.

I don't believe newspaper reporters can substitute for a district attorney, but a newspaper has a very valid investigative role. Newspaper reports on corruption in government, racketeering and organized crime conditions can be very helpful to your communities and the whole country.

I have told friends and supporters who are urging me to run that I would not oppose President Johnson under any foreseeable circumstances.

I like to be involved in politics. I like to be involved in government. I've been in politics all my life. I would like to remain in government. I don't think that's so sinister.

If I get to be president, what can I do anyway? With Congress and the press, what chance do I have to make basic changes?

If freedom makes social progress possible, so social progress strengthens and enlarges freedom.