“A question arose in my mind: Was Kennedy a political genius who truly unleashed the forces of American liberalism, or was he merely a rat cunning enough to take advantage of the new medium of television in order to become the first 'television President'?”
“Democracy is the road to socialism.”
“Democracy is the worst form of government; except for all the others that have been tried.”
“It is better to seek peace than victory.”
“Only the most sincere people in the world can manage the great principles of the world and establish the great foundation of the world.”
“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.”
“The more open-minded a society, the stronger it becomes.”
“The public arena is where ideas go to battle.”
“The true strength of a society lies in its ability to embrace diversity.”
“Those who worry about worldly affairs must be diligent and cautious.”
“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
“When you are wronged repeatedly, the worst thing you can do is continue taking it—fight back!”
“A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend upon the support of Paul.”
“Mankind is becoming a single unit, and that for a unit to fight against itself is suicide.”
“For every ten people who are clipping at the branches of evil, you're lucky to find one who's hacking at the roots.”
“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
“In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place, and in the sky, The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard among the guns below.”
“Television brought the brutality of war into the comfort of the living room. Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of America—not the battlefields of Vietnam.”
“You can be a French Canadian or an English Canadian, but not a Canadian. We know how to live without an identity, and this is one of our marvellous resources.”
“It's a moral problem that the government is making into criminals people, who may be doing something you and I don't approve of, but who are doing something that hurts nobody else.”
“The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.”
“It is no small matter to know whether we are going to live in a society in which personal rights, individual rights, take precedence over collective rights. It is no minor question of secondary importance to know whether we are going to live in a society in which all citizens are equal before the law and before the State itself. And it is no trivial matter to determine if there will be a spirit of brotherhood and of sharing in the society we are going to live in... When collective rights take precedence over individual freedoms.”
“There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada. There are shared values—openness, respect, compassion, willingness to work hard, to be there for each other, to search for equality and justice.”
“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
“If you're not a liberal at twenty you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at forty, you have no brain.”
“Write on my gravestone: 'Infidel, Traitor'—infidel to every church that compromises with wrong; traitor to every government that oppresses the people.”
“Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance and the gospel of envy. Its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.”
“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.”