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The
crowd reaches out, 1968. Photo by Bill Eppridge
ROBERT F. KENNEDY
NOVEMBER
20, 1925 -- JUNE 5, 1968
"Some
men see things as they are and say, 'Why?'
I dream of things that never were and say, 'Why not?'"
Robert
F. Kennedy, after George Bernard Shaw
Ripple
of Hope
"Few
will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a
small portion of the events, and in the total of all these acts will be written
the history of this generation ... It is from numberless diverse acts of courage
and belief that human history is thus shaped.
"Each
time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or
strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and
crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those
ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression
and resistance."
Day
of Affirmation Address, University of Capetown, South Africa, June 6, 1966
Poverty
"I
believe that, as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil."
Speech,
Athens, Georgia, May 6, 1961
Greatness
"Only
those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly."
Day
of Affirmation Address, University of Capetown, South Africa, June 6, 1966
The
Future
"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."
Address,
Seattle World's Fair, August 7, 1962
"The
future does not belong to those who are content with today, apathetic toward
common problems and their fellow man alike, timid and fearful in the face of
bold projects and new ideas. Rather, it will belong to those who can blend
passion, reason and courage in a personal commitment to the great enterprises
and ideals of American society."
Address,
University of California at Berkeley, October 22, 1966
Quality
of Life
"Too
much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and
community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national
product ... if we should judge America by that - 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 those who break them. It
counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in
chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored
cars for police who fight riots in our streets. 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 tells us everything about America except why
we are proud that we are Americans."
Address,
University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, March 18, 1968
Challenge
"On
this generation of Americans falls the burden of proving to the world that we
really mean it when we say all men are created free and are equal before the
law. 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."
Speech,
Law Day Exercises of the University of Georgia Law School, May 6, 1961
On
the Death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"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 or lawlessness;
but 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 they
be black ...
Statement
on the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Indianapolis, Indiana,
April 4, 1968
1968
Presidential Campaign
"I
think we can end the divisions within the United States. What I think is quite
clear is that we can work together in the last analysis. And that what has been
going on with the United States over the period of that last three years, the
divisions, the violence, the disenchantment with our society, the divisions -
whether it's between blacks and whites, between the poor and the more affluent,
or between age groups, or in the war in Vietnam - that we can work together. We
are a great country, an unselfish country and a compassionate country. And I
intend to make that my basis for running."
California
Victory Speech, Los Angeles, California, June 4, 1968
Dissent
"The
sharpest criticism often goes hand in hand with the deepest idealism and love of
country."
Address,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 24, 1967
Equality
"We
must recognize the full human equality of all our people - before God, before
the law, and in the councils of government. We must do this not because it is
economically advantageous - although it is; not because the laws of God and man
command it - although they do command it; not because people in other lands wish
it so. We must do it for the single and fundamental reason that it is the right
thing to do."
Day
of Affirmation Address, University of Capetown, South Africa, June 6, 1966
Violence
and Lawlessness
"What
has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has
ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet.
"No
wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a
coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of
madness, not the voice of reason.
"Whenever
any American's life is taken by another American unnecessarily - whether it is
done in the name of the law or in the defiance of the law, by one man or a gang,
in cold blood or in passion, in an attack of violence or in response to violence
- whenever we tear at the fabric of the life which another man has painfully and
clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded."
On
the Mindless Menace of Violence, Cleveland, Ohio, April 5, 1968
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