Robert F. Kennedy quotes - page 3

Robert F. Kennedy was an American politician and lawyer, known for his advocacy of civil rights and social justice. As a prominent member of the Kennedy family, he served as U.S. Attorney General and later as a Senator from New York. He inspired many through his leadership and progressive vision before his tragic assassination in 1968. Here are 112 of his quotes:

Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm only going to talk to you just for a minute or so this evening, because I have some very sad news for all of you, and, I think, sad news for all of our fellow citizens, and people who love peace all over the world; and that is that Martin Luther King was shot and was killed tonight in Memphis, Tennessee.

Robert F. Kennedy

Fear not the path of Truth for the lack of People walking on it.

Robert F. Kennedy

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

Robert F. Kennedy

I think back to what Camus wrote about the fact that perhaps this world is a world in which children suffer, but we can lessen the number of suffering children, and if you do not do this, then who will do this? I'd like to feel that I'd done something to lessen that suffering.

Robert F. Kennedy

No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet. No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of reason.

Robert F. Kennedy

I believe that in this generation those with the courage to enter the conflict will find themselves with companions in every corner of the world.

Robert F. Kennedy

We can move in that direction as a country, in greater polarization -- black people amongst blacks, and white amongst whites, filled with hatred toward one another. Or we can make an effort.

Robert F. Kennedy

The United States Government has taken steps to make sure that the constitution of the United States applies to all individuals.

Robert F. Kennedy

For the fortunate amongst us, the fourth danger.

Robert F. Kennedy

First, is the danger of futility: the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills - against misery, against ignorance, or injustice and violence. Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man.

Robert F. Kennedy

We glorify killing on movie and television screens and call it entertainment.

Robert F. Kennedy

The cruelties and the obstacles of this swiftly changing planet will not yield to obsolete dogmas and outworn slogans. It cannot be moved by those who cling to a present which is already dying, who prefer the illusion of security to the excitement and danger which comes with even the most peaceful progress.

Robert F. Kennedy

We have to make an effort to understand, to get beyond, or go beyond these rather difficult times.

Robert F. Kennedy

Just because we cannot see clearly the end of the road, that is no reason for not setting out on the essential journey.

Robert F. Kennedy

What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant.

Robert F. Kennedy

Lets dedicate ourselves to what the ancient greeks wrote so many years ago, to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world. Let us dedicate ourselves to that.

Robert F. Kennedy

Kennedy was not impressed by military objections. The Bay of Pigs had taught the President to distrust the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "The first advice I'm going to give my successor,” he once said to his journalist friend Ben Bradlee, "is to watch the generals and to avoid feeling that because they were military men their opinions on military matters were worth a damn.”4 During the missile crisis Kennedy courteously and consistently rejected the Joint Chiefs' bellicose recommendations. "These brass hats have one great advantage in their favor,” he said. "If we...do what they want us to do, none of us will be alive later to tell them that they were wrong.”5.

Robert F. Kennedy

Of course to adhere to standards, to idealism, to vision in the face of immediate dangers takes great courage and takes self-confidence. But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.

Robert F. Kennedy

The Irish were not wanted there.

Robert F. Kennedy

It is your job, the task of young people in this world, to strip the last remnants of that ancient, cruel belief from the civilization of man.

Robert F. Kennedy

The road toward equality of freedom is not easy, and great cost and danger march alongside us.

Robert F. Kennedy

This is a Day of Affirmation, a celebration of liberty. We stand here in the name of freedom.

Robert F. Kennedy