When I was in Vietnam I learned a lot about the promises that soldiers make to each other. The Marines have a promise to never leave behind their dead. In this country, as citizen soldiers, we need to make the commitment to each other that we will never leave our veterans behind.

John F. Kerry

Think about this: terrorism, epidemics, poverty, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction-all challenges that know no borders-the reality is that climate change ranks right up there with every single one of them.

John F. Kerry

epidemics reality thinking

We need to guarantee equal rights and civil rights and say that, here in America, workers have the right to organize - women have the right to choose - and justice belongs to everyone regardless of race or gender or sexual orientation.

John F. Kerry

race rights america

If the threat is jihadism - and it is - and the threat is the destruction of Syria so that all of these refugees are swamping into Europe and changing the whole character and politics of Europe, this is the time to unite to find a way out.

John F. Kerry

europe character way

What Donald Trump is doing is serving the polluters and serving a narrow group of ideological interests. That's not leadership. That's abdication of responsibility, and this step does not make America first. It makes America last.

John F. Kerry

ideological interest responsibility

You just don't invade another country on phony pretext in order to assert your interests!

John F. Kerry

phony order country

Great physicians and nurses, skilled, caring and unparalleled in their training, intervened in my life and probably saved it. I was lucky but other Americans are not. It is time to speak again and stand again for the ideal that in the richest nation ever on this planet, it is wrong for 41 million Americans, most of them in working families, to worry at night and wake up in the morning without the basic protection of health insurance.

John F. Kerry

caring morning night

Values are not just words, values are what we live by. They're about the causes that we champion and the people we fight for.

John F. Kerry

champion fighting people

I think that our own crisis of democracy is in its own way affecting our ability to leverage in the same way that we used to in the world.

John F. Kerry

democracy world thinking

Confronting climate change is, in the long run, one of the greatest challenges that we face, and you can see this duty or responsibility laid down in scriptures, clearly.

John F. Kerry

responsibility running country

And it is time for those who talk about family values to start valuing families.

John F. Kerry

about-family family-values values

Climate change is real. The science is compelling. And the longer we wait, the harder the problem will be to solve.

John F. Kerry

climate real waiting

That's what I am standing up for - Israel's future as a Jewish and democratic state living side-by-side in peace and security with its neighbors.

John F. Kerry

neighbor israel sides

My definition of patriotism is to defend your country with the truth, no matter the consequences.

John F. Kerry

definitions 4th-of-july country

Those who deny the science or choose excuses over action are playing with fire.

John F. Kerry

excuse fire action

Ask Osama bin Laden is he is better off now than he was four years ago.

John F. Kerry

osama-bin-laden four years

If Russia is there [in Syria] alone fighting them [ISIL], guess what? Russia becomes the target and Russia starts seeing - who knows - MANPADs will find their way in there, airplanes will fall out of the sky. They will become vilified. They'll become the new magnet, together with Assad, for the jihadis.

John F. Kerry

airplane fighting fall

I saw courage both in the Vietnam War and in the struggle to stop it. I learned that patriotism includes protest, not just military service.

John F. Kerry

military struggle war

You just don't in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pre-text.

John F. Kerry

century fashion country

I still believe Americas destiny is to become a living testament to what free human beings can accomplish by acting in unity.

John F. Kerry

unity destiny believe

If [Bashar] Assad himself could save this whole process by saying, "I will engage in a managed transition where we all work together to stabilize the government, save the institutions of government, and turn on ISIL and preserve Syria." That could happen. It all depends on one man, and Russia and Iran should not be so stubborn here that they tie this whole thing up simply because of one person.

John F. Kerry

iran ties men