Frasi di John Fitzgerald Kennedy pagina 11

“I diritti di ogni uomo diminuiscono quando questi vengono minacciati.”

Origine: Citato in Gino e Michele, Matteo Molinari, Le Formiche: anno terzo, Zelig Editore, 1995, § 1953.

Questa traduzione è in attesa di revisione. È corretto?

“Non chiedete cosa possa fare il paese per voi: chiedete cosa potete fare voi per il paese.”

“Un uomo fa ciò che è suo dovere fare, quali che siano le conseguenze personali, quali che siano gli ostacoli, i pericoli o le pressioni. Questa è la base di tutta la moralità umana.”

dal discorso inaugurale del proprio mandato, 20 gennaio 1961

“Dunque non concentriamoci solo sulle nostre differenze, ma pensiamo anche ai nostri interessi comuni e a come superare tali differenze. E se le nostre divergenze non possono essere risolte oggi, almeno possiamo cercare di rendere il mondo un luogo sicuro per le diversità. Perché, in fin dei conti, il nostro più elementare legame è che tutti noi abitiamo questo piccolo pianeta, respiriamo la stessa aria, ci preoccupiamo per il futuro dei nostri figli, e siamo tutti mortali.”

Citazioni in lingua originale

“Signore e signori, la parola "segretezza" è ripugnante in una società libera e aperta e noi, come popolo, ci siamo opposti, intrinsecamente e storicamente, alle società segrete, ai giuramenti segreti e alle riunioni segrete. Siamo di fronte, in tutto il mondo, ad una cospirazione monolitica e spietata, basata soprattutto su mezzi segreti per espandere la sua sfera d'influenza, sull'infiltrazione anziché sull'invasione, sulla sovversione anziché sulle elezioni, sull'intimidazione anziché sulla libera scelta. È un sistema che ha reclutato ampie risorse umane e materiali nella costruzione di una macchina affiatata, altamente efficiente, che combina operazioni militari, diplomatiche, di intelligence, economiche, scientifiche e politiche. Le sue azioni non vengono diffuse, ma tenute segrete. I suoi errori non vengono messi in evidenza, ma vengono nascosti. I suoi dissidenti non sono elogiati, ma ridotti al silenzio. Nessuna spesa viene contestata. Nessun segreto viene rivelato. Ecco perché il legislatore ateniese Solone decretò che evitare le controversie fosse un crimine per ogni cittadino. Sto chiedendo il vostro aiuto nel difficilissimo compito di informare e allertare il popolo americano. Sono convinto che con il vostro aiuto l'uomo diventerà ciò che per cui è nato: un essere libero e indipendente.”

dal discorso http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Speeches/Commencement-Address-at-American-University-June-10-1963.aspx alla American University, 10 giugno 1963

“Siamo legati all'oceano. E quando torniamo al mare, sia per navigarci che per guardarlo, torniamo da dove siamo venuti.”

dal discorso http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Speeches/The-President-and-the-Press-Address-before-the-American-Newspaper-Publishers-Association.aspx presso l'Hotel Waldorf-Astoria di New York, 27 aprile 1961

John Fitzgerald Kennedy Frasi e Citazioni

“Adesso sì che posso ritirarmi dalla politica, dopo che una ragazza dolce e pura come Marilyn Monroe mi ha augurato buon compleanno!”

Citazioni in lingua originale

“La vittoria ha moltissimi padri, la sconfitta è orfana.”

19 maggio 1962; citato in Marilyn, p. 369

“Scegliamo di andare sulla Luna in questo decennio e di fare ancora altre cose, non perché sono [sfide] facili, ma perché sono difficili.”

Origine: Citato in Dizionario mondiale di Storia, Rizzoli Larousse, Milano, 2003, p. 656. ISBN 88-525-0077-4

“Il grande nemico della verità molto spesso non è la menzogna: deliberata, creata ad arte e disonesta; quanto il mito: persistente, persuasivo ed irrealistico.”

dal discorso alla Rice University, 12 settembre 1962

“La guerra non ci si propone più come un'alternativa razionale.”

Citazioni in lingua originale

dal messaggio all'ONU del 25 settembre 1961

“Io sono un berlinese.”

“La mia prima impressione [al suo arrivo in Francia ancora da studente universitario] è questa: mentre i francesi amano tutti Roosevelt, un tipo di governo alla Roosevelt non potrebbe avere successo in un paese come la Francia, che sembra mancare della capacità di guardare ad un problema nel suo complesso. Non amano Blum perché prende i loro soldi e li dà agli altri: cosa che per un francese è très mauvaise.”

Citazioni in lingua originale

“Quando il potere porta l'uomo verso l'arroganza, la poesia gli ricorda i suoi limiti. Quando il potere restringe la sfera di interesse dell'uomo, la poesia gli ricorda la ricchezza e la diversità dell'esistenza. Quando il potere corrompe, la poesia rigenera.”

citato in Arthur Schlesinger Jr., I mille giorni di John F. Kennedy, p. 101

“Mio padre [Joseph P. Kennedy] mi ha detto che tutti gli uomini di affari sono figli di puttana.”

“Aldilà di questa frontiera si estendono i domini inesplorati della scienza e dello spazio, dei problemi risolti della pace e della guerra, delle sacche di ignoranza e di pregiudizi non ancora debellate.”

citato in Edward Klein, La maledizione dei Kennedy, p. 64

“C'è molta gente nel mondo che davvero non capisce, o dice di non capire, dove sia la vera differenza tra il mondo libero ed il mondo comunista. Li si faccia venire a Berlino. Ci sono molti a dire che il comunismo è l'onda del futuro. Li si faccia venire a Berlino. E ci sono alcuni che dicono che in Europa e ovunque noi potremmo lavorare insieme con i comunisti. Li si faccia venire a Berlino. E ci sono perfino alcuni che dicono che il comunismo è un sistema malvagio ma ci permette di fare progressi economici. Lass' sie nach Berlin kommen. Li si faccia venire a Berlino.”

Origine: Citato in Giovanni Sabbatucci e Vittorio Vidotto, <nowiki></nowiki>Il mondo contemporaneo. Dal 1848 a oggi<nowiki></nowiki>, Editori Laterza, Roma, 2008, <nowiki>ISBN 978-88-420-8741-0</nowiki>, pag. 542

“Il conformismo è il carceriere della libertà e il nemico dello sviluppo.”

dal discorso http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Speeches/Remarks-at-the-Rudolph-Wilde-Platz-June-26-1963.aspx a Berlino Ovest, 26 giugno 1963

“Io sono un idealista senza illusioni.”

dal messaggio all'ONU http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/JFK-Speeches/Address-Before-the-General-Assembly-of-the-United-Nations-September-25-1961.aspx del 25 settembre 1961

“L'umanità deve porre fine alla guerra, o la guerra porrà fine all'umanità.”

Origine: Citato in Enzo Biagi, Buoni cattivi: esiste ancora una morale valida per tutti?, BUR, Milano, 1991, p. 15. ISBN 88-17-11549-5

“L'uomo è ancora il più straordinario dei computer.”

dal messaggio all'ONU del 25 settembre 1961

“So che abbiamo tutti un debito con il nostro grande amico Frank Sinatra. Prima ancora di cantare, raccoglieva voti per i democratici in un distretto elettorale del New Jersey. Quel distretto è cresciuto fino a diventare una nazione… e quando smetterà di cantare, continuerà a parlare in favore del partito democratico, e io lo ringrazio a nome di tutti i presenti.”

da un discorso del 21 maggio 1963

“Se una libera società non può aiutare i molti che sono poveri, non dovrebbe salvare i pochi che sono ricchi.”

citato in Guida completa a Frank Sinatra

“Gli statisti sono responsabili dei loro errori soltanto nel settore in cui sono preposti, cioè quello del governo, e non vanno giudicati responsabili della nazione nel suo complesso. […] Una delle manchevolezze della democrazia, è di cercare capri espiatori per la sua debolezza.”

Citazioni in lingua originale

“Sono giunto alla conclusione che il fascismo è fatto per la Germania e l'Italia, il comunismo per la Russia e la democrazia per l'America e l'Inghilterra.”

dalla tesi di laurea di Kennedy, pubblicata come saggio dal titolo Why England Slept nel 1940; citato in Arthur Schlesinger Jr., I mille giorni di John F. Kennedy, p. 105

“Non voglio la capote sulla macchina, tutte la texane devono vedere che bella ragazza è Jackie.”

dal diario tenuto durante il suo soggiorno in Europa nel 1938, citato in Arthur Schlesinger Jr., I mille giorni di John F. Kennedy, p. 102

“Le migliori manovre strategiche avvengono sempre per caso.”

Origine: Detto al suo collaboratore più stretto, Kenneth O'Donnell, a proposito della sua visita alla città texana di Dallas, che avrebbe avuto luogo di lì a due giorni. Citato in Edward Klein, La maledizione dei Kennedy, p. 183.

“Mia madre era sempre o in una casa di moda parigina o inginocchiata dinnanzi ad un altare. […] Quando avevamo veramente bisogno di lei, non c'era mai […] Mia madre non mi ha mai stretto a sé, né mi ha mai coccolato. Mai, mai!”

citato in Arthur Schlesinger Jr., I mille giorni di John F. Kennedy, p. 93

“è stata molto generosa, ma noi non abbiamo perso la nostra potenza economica e la nostra influenza su quei paesi. Non crediate che gli europei facciano qualcosa per noi checché gli Stati Uniti abbiano fatto per loro. Sarà dunque necessario che i nostri rappresentanti difendano con molta forza interessi americani.”

Citato in Edward Klein, La maledizione dei Kennedy, p. 31

“Non dobbiamo mai negoziare per paura, ma non dobbiamo mai aver paura di negoziare.”

“Cuba non deve essere abbandonata ai comunisti.”

“Questo paese non può permettersi di essere materialmente ricco e spiritualmente povero.”

citato in AA.VV., Il libro della storia, traduzione di Roberto Sorgo, Gribaudo, 2018, p. 315. ISBN 9788858016572

Questa traduzione è in attesa di revisione. È corretto?

“Secondly, the educated citizen has an obligation to serve the public. He may be a precinct worker or President. He may give his talents at the courthouse, the State house, the White House. He may be a civil servant or a Senator, a candidate or a campaign worker, a winner or a loser. But he must be a participant and not a spectator. "At the Olympic games," Aristotle wrote, "it is not the finest and strongest men who are crowned, but they who enter the lists-for out of these the prize-men are elected. So, too, in life, of the honorable and the good, it is they who act who rightly win the prizes."”

John Fitzgerald Kennedy: Frasi in inglese

“We can say with some assurance that, although children may be the victims of fate, they will not be the victims of our neglect.”

1963, Address at Vanderbilt University

“And is not peace, in the last analysis, basically a matter of human rights — the right to live out our lives without fear of devastation — the right to breathe air as nature provided it — the right of future generations to a healthy existence?”

"Remarks upon signing the Maternal and Child Health and Mental Retardation Planning Bill (434)" (24 October 1963)]
1963

“One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.”

1963, American University speech

“These burdens and frustrations are accepted by most Americans with maturity and understanding. They may long for the days when war meant charging up San Juan Hill-or when our isolation was guarded by two oceans — or when the atomic bomb was ours alone — or when much of the industrialized world depended upon our resources and our aid. But they now know that those days are gone — and that gone with them are the old policies and the old complacency's. And they know, too, that we must make the best of our new problems and our new opportunities, whatever the risk and the cost.
But there are others who cannot bear the burden of a long twilight struggle. They lack confidence in our long-run capacity to survive and succeed. Hating communism, yet they see communism in the long run, perhaps, as the wave of the future. And they want some quick and easy and final and cheap solution — now.
There are two groups of these frustrated citizens, far apart in their views yet very much alike in their approach. On the one hand are those who urge upon us what I regard to be the pathway of surrender-appeasing our enemies, compromising our commitments, purchasing peace at any price, disavowing our arms, our friends, our obligations. If their view had prevailed, the world of free choice would be smaller today.
On the other hand are those who urge upon us what I regard to be the pathway of war: equating negotiations with appeasement and substituting rigidity for firmness. If their view had prevailed, we would be at war today, and in more than one place.
It is a curious fact that each of these extreme opposites resembles the other. Each believes that we have only two choices: appeasement or war, suicide or surrender, humiliation or holocaust, to be either Red or dead. Each side sees only "hard" and "soft" nations, hard and soft policies, hard and soft men. Each believes that any departure from its own course inevitably leads to the other: one group believes that any peaceful solution means appeasement; the other believes that any arms build-up means war. One group regards everyone else as warmongers, the other regards everyone else as appeasers. Neither side admits that its path will lead to disaster — but neither can tell us how or where to draw the line once we descend the slippery slopes of appeasement or constant intervention.
In short, while both extremes profess to be the true realists of our time, neither could be more unrealistic. While both claim to be doing the nation a service, they could do it no greater disservice. This kind of talk and easy solutions to difficult problems, if believed, could inspire a lack of confidence among our people when they must all — above all else — be united in recognizing the long and difficult days that lie ahead. It could inspire uncertainty among our allies when above all else they must be confident in us. And even more dangerously, it could, if believed, inspire doubt among our adversaries when they must above all be convinced that we will defend our vital interests.
The essential fact that both of these groups fail to grasp is that diplomacy and defense are not substitutes for one another. Either alone would fail. A willingness to resist force, unaccompanied by a willingness to talk, could provoke belligerence — while a willingness to talk, unaccompanied by a willingness to resist force, could invite disaster.”

1963, Civil Rights Address

“I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.”

1961, Address at the University of Washington

“I'm always rather nervous about how you talk about women who are active in politics, whether they want to be talked about as women or as politicians.”

Address at a White House dinner honoring Nobel Prize winners (29 April 1962), quoted in The White House Diary, at the JFK Library http://www.jfklibrary.org/white%20house%20diary/1962/April/29 1962

“If I should lose on the real issues, I shall return to my seat in the Senate, satisfied that I had tried my best and was fairly judged. But if this election is decided on the basis that 40 million Americans lost their chance of being President on the day they were baptized, then it is the whole nation that will be the loser, in the eyes of Catholics and non-Catholics around the world, in the eyes of history, and in the eyes of our own people.”

Quoted in Bill Adler, "The Presidency," The Wit of President Kennedy (1964).

[JFK was speaking]...To a group of women delegates to the United Nations who had suggested that there might one day be a woman President.
Attributed

“A wall is a hell of a lot better than a war.”

1960, Speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association

“But we are well aware that all issues of principle are not settled, and that principles alone are not enough. It is therefore our intention to challenge the Soviet Union, not to an arms race, but to a peace race- -to advance together step by step, stage by stage, until general and complete disarmament has been achieved. We invite them now to go beyond agreement in principle to reach agreement on actual plans.”

Upon hearing about the construction of the Berlin Wall, as quoted in "Savage century" in "The Sunday Times (28 May 2006) http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/non-fiction/article724547.ece Attributed

“The quality and spirit of our own society must justify and support our efforts abroad.”

1961, UN speech

“For this country is moving and it must not stop. It cannot stop. For this is a time for courage and a time for challenge. Neither conformity nor complacency will do. Neither the fanatics nor the faint-hearted are needed. And our duty as a Party is not to our Party alone, but to the nation, and, indeed, to all mankind. Our duty is not merely the preservation of political power but the preservation of peace and freedom.”

1963, American University speech

“In the Chinese language, the word "crisis" is composed of two characters, one representing danger and the other, opportunity.”

1963, Remarks Intended for Delivery to the Texas Democratic State Committee in the Municipal Auditorium in Austin

“I would hope that all educated citizens would fulfill this obligation — in politics, in Government, here in Nashville, here in this State, in the Peace Corps, in the Foreign Service, in the Government Service, in the Tennessee Valley, in the world. You will find the pressures greater than the pay. You may endure more public attacks than support. But you will have the unequaled satisfaction of knowing that your character and talent are contributing to the direction and success of this free society.”

Remarks at the United Negro College Fund, Indianapolis, Indiana (12 April 1959) http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations.aspx; Box 902, Senate Speech Files, Pre-Presidential Papers, John F. Kennedy Papers, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library; also in Remarks at Valley Forge Country Club, Pennsylvania (29 October 1960), Box 914, Senate Speech Files, Pre-Presidential Papers, John F. Kennedy Papers, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Pre-1960

“But life is never easy. There is work to be done and obligations to be met — obligations to truth, to justice, and to liberty.”

1963, Address at Vanderbilt University

“After visiting these places, you can easily understand how that within a few years Hitler will emerge from the hatred that surrounds him now as one of the most significant figures who ever lived. He had boundless ambition for his country which rendered him a menace to the peace of the world, but he had a mystery about him in the way that he lived and in the manner of his death that will live and grow after him. He had in him the stuff of which legends are made.”

1963, Address at the Free University of Berlin

“O God, thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.”

After visiting such Nazi strongholds as were found in Berchtesgaden and Kehlsteinhaus; Personal diary (1 August 1945); published in Prelude to Leadership (1995)
Pre-1960

“But let me stress again that these are my views — for contrary to common newspaper usage, I am not the Catholic candidate for President. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for President who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters — and the church does not speak for me. Whatever issue may come before me as President — on birth control, divorce, censorship, gambling or any other subject — I will make my decision in accordance with these views, in accordance with what my conscience tells me to be the national interest, and without regard to outside religious pressures or dictates. And no power or threat of punishment could cause me to decide otherwise. But if the time should ever come — and I do not concede any conflict to be even remotely possible — when my office would require me to either violate my conscience or violate the national interest, then I would resign the office; and I hope any conscientious public servant would do the same.”

"Remarks in New York City at the Dedication of the East Coast Memorial to the Missing at Sea (203)" (23 May 1963) http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations.aspx Quoting an old Breton fishermen's prayer that Admiral Rickover had inscribed on plaques that he gave to newly commissioned submarine captains. Rickover presented President Kennedy with one of these plaques, which sat on his desk in the Oval Office. http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Quotations.aspx 1963

“The theory of independence is as old as man himself, and it was not invented in this hall. But it was in this hall that the theory became a practice; that the word went out to all, in Thomas Jefferson's phrase, that "the God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time." And today this Nation — conceived in revolution, nurtured in liberty, maturing in independence — has no intention of abdicating its leadership in that worldwide movement for independence to any nation or society committed to systematic human oppression.”

1960, Speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association

“When I ran for Presidency of the United States, I knew that this country faced serious challenges, but I could not realize — nor could any man realize who does not bear the burdens of this office — how heavy and constant would be those burdens.”

1962, Address at Independence Hall

“There is danger that totalitarian governments, not subject to vigorous popular debate, will underestimate the will and unity of democratic societies where vital interests are concerned.”

1961, Berlin Crisis speech

“This knowledge, the knowledge that the physical well-being of the citizen is an important foundation for the vigor and vitality of all the activities of the nation, is as old as Western civilization itself.”

President Kennedy's 13th News Conferences on June 28, 1961 John Source: F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/Press-Conferences/News-Conference-13.aspx 1961

“While we shall never weary in the defense of freedom, neither shall we ever abandon the pursuit of peace.”

1960, Sport at the New Frontier: The Soft American

“There are indications because of new inventions, that 10, 15, or 20 nations will have a nuclear capacity, including Red China, by the end of the Presidential office in 1964. This is extremely serious... I think the fate not only of our own civilization, but I think the fate of world and the future of the human race, is involved in preventing a nuclear war.”

1963, Third State of the Union Address

“And as Americans know from our history on our own old frontier, gun battles are caused by outlaws, and not by officers of the peace.”

Third Nixon-Kennedy Presidential Debate (13 October 1960)
1960

“The 1930's taught us a clear lesson: aggressive conduct, if allowed to go unchecked and unchallenged ultimately leads to war.”

1961, Berlin Crisis speech

“And second, medical space research may revolutionize the technology and the techniques of modern medicine. Whatever new devices are created, for example, to monitor our astronauts, to measure their heart activity, their breathing, their brain waves, their eye motion, at great distances and under difficult conditions, will also represent a major advance in general medical instrumentation. Heart patients may even be able to wear a light monitor which will sound a warning if their activity exceeds certain limits. An instrument recently developed to record automatically the impact of acceleration upon an astronaut's eyes will also be of help to small children who are suffering miserably from eye defects, but are unable to describe their impairment. And also by the use of instruments similar to those used in Project Mercury, this Nation's private as well as public nursing services are being improved, enabling one nurse now to give more critically ill patients greater attention than they ever could in the past.”

1962, Cuban Missile Crisis speech

“Today we are committed to a worldwide struggle to promote and protect the rights of all who wish to be free. And when Americans are sent to Vietnam or West Berlin, we do not ask for whites only. It ought to be possible, therefore, for American students of any color to attend any public institution they select without having to be backed up by troops.”

1963, President John F. Kennedy's last formal speech and public words

“We are a great and strong country — perhaps the greatest and strongest in the history of the world. But greatness and strength are not our natural right. They are not gifts which are automatically ours forever. It took toil and courage and determination to build this country — and it will take those same qualities if we are to maintain it. For, although a country may stand still, history never stands still. Thus, if we do not soon begin to move forward again, we will inevitably be left behind. And I know that Americans today are tired of standing still — and that we do not intend to be left behind. But effort and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. For, as Socrates told us, "If a man does not know to what port he is sailing, no wind is favorable."”

1963, Civil Rights Address

“For one true measure of a nation is its success in fulfilling the promise of a better life for each of its members. Let this be the measure of our nation.”

Speech at the Coliseum, Raleigh, North Carolina" (17 September 1960) http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=74076 1960