Robert Francis Kennedy citáty

strana 3

„Jen ten, kdo se odváží výrazně selhat, může dosáhnout velkého úspěchu.“

„Každá společnost má takové zločince, jaké si zasloužila a takové soudnictví, jaké si vytvořila.“

„Pokrok je krásné slovo, ale jeho hnací silou je změna a každá změna má své nepřátele.“

„To, co je na extremistech zavrženíhodné není ani tak jejich extremismus, jako intolerance a bezohlednost vůči ostatním.“

„Náš americký způsob života, dává každému šanci se uplatnit. Jde pouze o to uchopit jí oběma rukama a co nejlépe jí využít.“

„Celý náš vládní program nebazíruje na službě pro lidi, nýbrž na práci s lidmi.“

„V každé zemi a v každé době existují lidé, kteří se snaží překážet dějinému pokroku. Obávají se budoucnosti, nedůvěřují současnosti a přejí si jistotu, tak jako pohodlí minulé doby, které ve skutečnosti nebyli a existují pouze v jejich představách.“

„Čím těžší je získávat důkazy, tím důležitější je mít spolehlivé informátory.“

„Dnes, kdy socialismus a plánované hospodářství na všech koncích selhávají, je tím naléhavější pro Američany, aby věnovali pozornost těm institucím, které Americe zajišťují pružnou, dynamickou a konkurence schopnou společnost.“

„Extrémista zklamán neúspěchem, zatracuje motivace, morální názory a patriotismus oněch, kteří ho odmítají. Ať se angažuje politicky a nebo nábožensky, vždy kolem sebe rozsévá samoúčelné fráze a bezdůvodný strach.“

„Každý šestý občan USA potřebuje pomoc a povinností nás pěti je, mu pomoci.“

„K organizaci naší společnosti nepotřebujeme pěsti, nýbrž mozky. Nepotřebujeme žádný tělesný výkon siláka, nýbrž potřebujeme ty nejlepší hlavy.“

“When you teach a man to hate and fear his brother, when you teach that he is a lesser man because of his color or his beliefs or the policies he pursues, when you teach that those who differ from you threaten your freedom or your job or your family, then you also learn to confront others not as fellow citizens but as enemies, to be met not with cooperation but with conquest; to be subjugated and mastered. We learn, at the last, to look at our brothers as aliens, men with whom we share a city, but not a community; men bound to us in common dwelling, but not in common effort. We learn to share only a common fear, only a common desire to retreat from each other, only a common impulse to meet disagreement with force.”

“The free way of life proposes ends, but it does not prescribe means.”

“Now I can go back to being ruthless again.”

“My favorite poet was Aeschylus. He wrote: "In our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God."”

“A revolution is coming — a revolution which will be peaceful if we are wise enough; compassionate if we care enough; successful if we are fortunate enough — But a revolution which is coming whether we will it or not. We can affect its character; we cannot alter its inevitability.”

“Are we like the God of the Old Testament, that we in Washington can decide which cities, towns, and hamlets in Vietnam will be destroyed? Do we have to accept that? I don't think we do. I think we can do something about it.”

“About one-fifth of the people are against everything all the time.”

“What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness, but is love, and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or whether they be black.”

“Gross National Product counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children. Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country, it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.”

“Each nation has different obstacles and different goals, shaped by the vagaries of history and of experience. Yet as I talk to young people around the world I am impressed not by the diversity but by the closeness of their goals, their desires and their concerns and their hope for the future.”

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”