Politics Quotes by John F. Kennedy

“Ask not what your country can do for you,but ask what you can do for your country.”

— John F. Kennedy

Politics is like football; if you see daylight, go through the hole.

— John F. Kennedy

Politics is a jungle-torn between doing the right thing and staying in office.

— John F. Kennedy

Our responsibility is one of decision, for to govern is to choose.

— John F. Kennedy

My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government - he promised Dad he'd go straight.

— John F. Kennedy

Political action is the highest responsibility of a citizen.

— John F. Kennedy

A rising tide (in the economy) lifts all boats.

— John F. Kennedy

I am the one person who can truthfully say, I got my job through the New York Times.

— John F. Kennedy

I do not belive that Washington should do for the people wha they can do for themselves through local and private effort.

— John F. Kennedy

There's an old saying that victory has a hundred fathers and defeat is an orphan… I'm the responsible officer of the Government.

— John F. Kennedy

We, the people, are the boss, and we will get the kind of political leadership, be it good or bad, that we…

— John F. Kennedy

Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the…

— John F. Kennedy

I'm always rather nervous about how you talk about women who are active in politics, whether they want to be talked about…

— John F. Kennedy

Democracy is the superior form of government, because it is based on a respect for man as a reasonable being.

— John F. Kennedy

Will Rogers once said it is not the original investment in a Congressman that counts; it is the upkeep.

— John F. Kennedy

The efforts of governments alone will never be enough. In the end, the people must choose and the people must help themselves.

— John F. Kennedy

A revolution is coming – a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful…

— John F. Kennedy

History will not judge our endeavors--and a government cannot be selected--merely on the basis of color or creed or even party affiliation.…

— John F. Kennedy

Easy money, sudden fortunes, increasingly powerful political machines and blatant corruption transformed much of the nation; and the Senate, as befits a…

— John F. Kennedy

All of us in the Senate live in an iron lung-the iron lung of politics, and it is no easy task to…

— John F. Kennedy

The federal government's most useful role is not to rush into a program of excessive increases in public expenditures, but to expand…

— John F. Kennedy

Whatever the political affiliation of our next President, whatever his views may be on all the issues and problems that rush in…

— John F. Kennedy

Some of my colleagues who are criticized today for lack of forthright principles-or who are looked upon with scorn as compromising "politicians"-are…

— John F. Kennedy

The Republican nominee-to-be, of course, is also a young man. But his approach is as old as McKinley. His party is the…

— John F. Kennedy

“Neither the fanatics nor the faint-hearted are needed. And our duty as a Party is not to our Party alone, but to…

— John F. Kennedy

Most of us are conditioned for many years to have a political viewpoint - Republican or Democratic, liberal, conservative, or moderate. The…

— John F. Kennedy

The success of this Government, and thus the success of our Nation, depends in the last analysis upon the quality.of our career…

— John F. Kennedy

This Government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet Military buildup on the island of Cuba. Within the past…

— John F. Kennedy

For in a democracy, every citizen, regardless of his interest in politics, "hold office"; every one of us is in a position…

— John F. Kennedy

I ask that you offer to the political arena, and to the critical problems of our society which are decided therein, the…

— John F. Kennedy

For in a government of laws and not of men, no man, however prominent or powerful, and no mob however unruly or…

— John F. Kennedy

“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute; where no Catholic prelate would tell the President…

— John F. Kennedy

“From time to time our national history has been marred by forgetfulness of the Jeffersonian principle that restraint is at the heart…

— John F. Kennedy

“I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute - where no Catholic prelate would tell the…

— John F. Kennedy

“For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has…

— John F. Kennedy

Self-government requires qualities of self-denial and restraint.

— John F. Kennedy

“Our progress as a nation can be not swifter than our progress in education.”

— John F. Kennedy

The basis of effective government is public confidence.

— John F. Kennedy

Every time that we try to lift a problem from our own shoulders, and shift that problem to the hands of the…

— John F. Kennedy

No responsibility of government is more fundamental than the responsibility of maintaining the highest standard of ethical behavior for those who conduct…

— John F. Kennedy