The enlargement of liberty for individual human beings must be the supreme goal and abiding practice of any western society. Robert Kennedy More Quotes by Robert Kennedy More Quotes From Robert Kennedy We can master change not though force or fear, but only though the free work of an understanding mind, though an openness to new knowledge and fresh outlooks, which can only strengthen the most fragile and most powerful of human gifts: the gift of reason. Robert Kennedy powerful understanding mind 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. Robert Kennedy political men years What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet... Robert Kennedy color compassion men Virginia States' rights, as our forefathers conceived it, was a protection of the right of the individual citizen. Those who preach most frequently about states' rights today are not those seeking the protection of the individual citizen, but his exploitation. The time is long past — if indeed it ever existed — when we should permit the noble concept of states' rights to be betrayed. Robert Kennedy rights long past This much is clear: violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleansing of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul. Robert Kennedy violence soul war I think there is an obligation on the part of all of us to stay informed and aware. Robert Kennedy obligation thinking He tells so many lies that he convinces himself after a while that he's telling the truth. He just doesn't recognize truth or falsehood. Robert Kennedy presidential telling-the-truth lying 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. Robert Kennedy equality change men Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies. Robert Kennedy nice inspiration change 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. Robert Kennedy police community law The greatest truth must be recognition that in every man, in every child is the potential for greatness. Robert Kennedy truth life children For there is another kind of violence, slower but just as deadly, destructive as the shot or the bomb in the night. This is the violence of institutions; indifference and inaction and slow decay. This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is a slow destruction of a child by hunger, and schools without books and homes without heat in the winter. Robert Kennedy book children school The essential humanity of men can be protected and preserved only where government must answer, not just to the wealthy, not just to those of a particular religion, or a particular race, but to all its people. Robert Kennedy race men people Only those who have the courage to fail greatly achieve greatly. Robert Kennedy achieve failing I dream of things that are not and ask why not. Robert Kennedy why-not innovation dream Together, we can make ourselves a nation that spends more on books than on bombs, more on hospitals than the terrible tools of war, more on decent houses than military aircraft. Robert Kennedy military war book 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. Robert Kennedy 4th-of-july political opportunity The sharpest criticism often goes hand in hand with the deepest idealism and love of country. Robert Kennedy atheism country hands The gross national product includes air pollution and advertising for cigarettes, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors, and jails for the people who break them ... It does not allow for the health of our families, the quality of thier education, or the joy of their play. Robert Kennedy air play doors People say I am ruthless. I am not ruthless. And if I find the man who is calling me ruthless, I shall destroy him. Robert Kennedy political men people
