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Some men see what is, and ask ‘Why?’ I see what might be, and ask ‘Why Not?’

Robert Kennedy

Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Community Excellence Material Surrender Value
Every time you stand up for an ideal, you send forth a tiny ripple of hope.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Hope Ideal Stand Time
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

Dedication Life Man Savage Tame World Writing
Nations around the world look to us for the leadership not merely by strength of arms but by strength of our convictions.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Leadership Nation Ourselves Strength World
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

Community Criminal Deserve Force Kind Society
There are people in every time and every land who want to stop history in its tracks. They fear the future, mistrust the present, and invoke the security of the comfortable past which, in fact, never existed.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Comfortable Existence Future History Land People Present Security Time
It is not enough to understand, or to see clearly. The future will be shaped in the arena of human activity, by those willing to commit their minds and their bodies to the task.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Activity Body Commitment Enough Future Human See Shape Task Understand Willing
I believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Believe Evil Myself Poverty Quantity
It is the essence of responsibility to put the public good ahead of personal gain.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Essence Personal Public Responsibility
We know that if one man’s rights are denied, the rights of all are endangered.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Dangerous Decline Justice Man Right
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

Accomplishment Assassination Violence
Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Criminal Deserve Kind Society
All of us will ultimately be judged on the effort we have contributed to building a new world order.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Build Contribution Effort Judgment Order World
The intolerant man will not rely on persuasion, or on the worth of the idea. He would deny to others the very freedom of opinion or of dissent which he so stridently demands for himself. He cannot trust democracy.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Demand Democracy Freedom Himself Man Opinion Persuade Tolerance Trust
Victims of the violence are black and white, rich and poor, young and old, famous and unknown. They are most important of all, human beings whom other human beings loved and needed.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Black Human Love Need Victim Violence White
GNP measures neither our courage, our wisdom neither our compassion. It measures everything except what makes life worthwhile
ROBERT KENNEDY

Compassionate Exception Life Measurement Wisdom Worth
The greatest truth must be recognition that in every man, in every child is the potential for greatness.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Children Greatness Man Potential Recognition Truth
Always forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Enemy Forgiveness Name
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

Attitude Destroy Himself Myself Opinion People Talk
The future is not a gift: it is an achievement. Every generation helps make its own future. This is the essential challenge of the present.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Achievement Challenge Future Generation Gift Present
If freedom makes social progress possible, so social progress strengthens and enlarges freedom. The two are inseparable partners in the great adventure of humanity.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Adventure Freedom Humanity Possible Separate Social
Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Bend Change Generation Greatness History Small Work
There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?
ROBERT KENNEDY

Dreams Myself Question Sight
The natural state of a human being is dignity.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Dignity Human Natural State
The future does not belong to those who are content with today Rather, it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason, and courage in a personal commitment.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Blend Commitment Courage Future Personal Reason Satisfaction Vision
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

Change Fear Force Freedom Fresh Gift Human Master Powerful Reason Strength Work
The sharpest criticism often goes hand in hand with the deepest idealism and love of country.
ROBERT KENNEDY

Country Criticism Deep Hands Love Patriot

Some men see what is, and ask ‘Why?’ I see what might be, and ask ‘Why Not?’

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Some men see what is, and ask ‘Why?’ I see what might be, and ask ‘Why Not?’

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