John F. Kerry Quotes & Sayings

Foreign policy is effectively the assertion of many individual countries intersecting on the global marketplace. And you have to figure out how to get your interest served in a way that meets the interests and needs of these other folks. — John F. Kerry

What we have to do is go on the offensive. [The science on climate change] has been maligned and misinterpreted, and we need to fight back ... [P]eople [need to] stop being moved by these talk show [hosts] and start looking for the facts themselves. — John F. Kerry

I will be voting to give the President of the United States the authority to use force
if necessary
to disarm Saddam Hussein because I believe that a deadly arsenal of weapons of mass destruction in his hands is a real and grave threat to our security. — John F. Kerry

I think there has been an exaggeration [of the terrorist threat]. — John F. Kerry

No one is going to question my commitment to the defence of our nation. I don't know what it is these Republicans, who didn't serve in any war, have against those of us who are Democrats who did. — John F. Kerry

I'm for ethanol, and I think it's a very important partial ingredient of the overall mix of alternative and renewable fuels we ought to commit to. — John F. Kerry

We're in a battle for our lives for things that really matter to us. There's a shell game going on like I've never seen before. — John F. Kerry

I defended this country as a young man, and I will defend it as president. — John F. Kerry

The hope is there. The sun is rising. Our best days are yet to come. — John F. Kerry

We have to recognize that there is a strong, fresh wind blowing, powered by these new information technologies. It will be increasingly difficult for dictators to impose their will through sheer brutality. — John F. Kerry

Our cause in the war on terror isn't helped when we have army officers like Lieutenant General William Boykin speaking in evangelical churches and claiming this as some sort of battle for the Christian religion. That's wrong. That's un-American. — John F. Kerry

I'm proud of my medals. I always was proud of them. — John F. Kerry

Even as a supporter of Roe v. Wade, I am compelled to acknowledge that the language both sides use on this subject can be unfortunately misleading and unconstructive ... Everyone is worse off for it — John F. Kerry

Too many people in America believe that if you are pro-choice that means pro-abortion. It doesn't. I don't want abortion. Abortion should be the rarest thing in the world. I am actually personally opposed to abortion. But I don't believe that I have a right to take what is an article of faith to me and legislate it to other people. That's not how it works in America. — John F. Kerry

The military's job is to win the war. A president's job is to win the peace. — John F. Kerry

It's pretty standard fare in political discourse. You misconstrue what somebody said. You isolate a statement, you lend your interpretation to it and then feign moral outrage. And Democrats have been doing it for years. — John F. Kerry

I think George Mitchell is a consummate professional. He is the ideal selection to handle the job of special envoy if you choose to have a special envoy. — John F. Kerry

It took President Obama to make America lead like America again. — John F. Kerry

You don't value families if you force them to take up a collection to buy body armor for a son or daughter in the service. — John F. Kerry

Each and every child in this country is valuable because they are our future as a society. We cannot afford to lose a single child to ill-health, under-education, abuse, addiction, jail, or gun violence. America's highest goal should be for every child to grow up to be a successful young adult
healthy, educated, free, secure, and a good citizen. — 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

It's hard to believe that in the greatest democracy in the world, we need legislation to prevent the government from writing and paying for the news. — John F. Kerry

Iraq may not be the war on terror itself, but it is critical to the outcome of the war on terror, and therefore any advance in Iraq is an advance forward in that ... — John F. Kerry

It appears that with the deadline for exile come and gone, Saddam Hussein has chosen to make military force the ultimate weapons inspections enforcement mechanism. If so, the only exit strategy is victory, this is our common mission and the world's cause. — John F. Kerry

I promise just to serve two terms. Republicans do it differently. They just have the son repeat the father's whole first term. — John F. Kerry

Violence has to end. And Israelis have a bright to defend themselves against any violence that is attacking innocent people with a knife in the old city in Jerusalem or elsewhere. No country should be under siege like that. — John F. Kerry

There is no bigger judgment for a president of the United States than how you take a nation to war. — John F. Kerry

I'm a Catholic, raised a Catholic. I was an altar boy. Religion has been a huge part of my life. It helped lead me through a war, leads me today. — John F. Kerry

If we can't have a serious conversation without politicizing it on cable TV and making it a scoring point for one day, we're in trouble. — John F. Kerry

We are all proud of is World War II where we went in, we were decisive, we came to the conclusion that freedom prevailed, and we were heroes. — John F. Kerry

I will not stop in our efforts to hunt down and kill the terrorists. — John F. Kerry

I've met foreign leaders who can't go out and say this publicly, but boy, they look at you and say, you've got to win this, you've got to beat this guy, we need a new policy, things like that. — John F. Kerry

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

The measurement in this race is not where you come from, it is "what do you fight for." — John F. Kerry

I want to fully fund education, No Child Left Behind, special-needs education. And that's how we're going to be more competitive, by making sure our kids are graduating from school and college. — John F. Kerry

Remember the hours after September 11th when we came together as one to answer the attack against our homeland. We drew strength when our firefighters ran upstairs and risked their lives so that others might live; when rescuers rushed into smoke and fire at the Pentagon; when the men and women of Flight 93 sacrificed themselves to save our nation's Capitol; when flags were hanging from front porches all across America, and strangers became friends. It was the worst day we have ever seen, but it brought out the best in all of us. — John F. Kerry

As President, I will not be the last to know what is going on in my command. — John F. Kerry

Capturing Saddam Hussein and ensuring that this brutal dictator will never return to power is an important step toward stabilizing Iraq for the Iraqis. Let's also be clear: Our problems in Iraq have not been caused by one man, and this is a moment when the administration can and must launch a major effort to gain international support and win the peace. — John F. Kerry

Those who deny the science or choose excuses over action are playing with fire. — John F. Kerry

It's one thing to be certain, but you can be certain and you can be wrong. — John F. Kerry

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

I voted to threaten the use of force to make Saddam Hussein comply with the resolutions of the United Nations. — John F. Kerry

Today, if you're an American business, you actually get a benefit for going overseas. You get to defer your taxes. So if you're looking at a competitive world, you say to yourself, "Hey, I do better overseas than I do here in America." — John F. Kerry

The big hang-up was George Bush wanted to get life lines, you know, so he could call somebody. — John F. Kerry

Unlike Washington, which is stuck in ideological gridlock, Americans feel the impact of climate change in their own hometowns and they know something must be done. — John F. Kerry

I personally didn't see personal atrocities in the sense I saw somebody cut a head off or something like that. However, I did take part in free-fire zones, I did take part in harassment and interdiction fire, I did take part in search-and-destroy missions. — John F. Kerry

Jesus did not help just the sick who could afford to pay for it. — John F. Kerry

I saw how different life was on different sides of the same city. I saw the fear in the eyes of people who were not free. I saw the gratitude of people toward the United States for all that we had done. I felt goosebumps as I got off a military train and heard the Army band strike up 'Stars and Stripes Forever.' — John F. Kerry

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

We have an electorate that doesn't always pay that much attention to what's going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or truth or what's happening. — John F. Kerry

We cannot continue to see the Middle East in the context of 9/11. We must see it in the context of 2011. — John F. Kerry

Our purpose now is to reclaim democracy itself. We are here to affirm that when Americans stand up and speak their minds and say America can do better, that is not a challenge to patriotism; it is the heart and soul of patriotism. — John F. Kerry

I look forward to standing up and holding George Bush accountable for pushing seniors off of Medicare into HMOs. — John F. Kerry

Real Democrats don't abandon the middle class. — John F. Kerry

I will never conduct a war or start a war because we want to; the United States of America should only go to war because we have to. And if you live by that guidance, you'll never have veterans throwing away their medals or standing up in protest. — John F. Kerry

I am a veteran, I fought in a war. I've been a prosecutor. I've sent people to jail for the rest of their life. — John F. Kerry

Ask Osama bin Laden if he's better off now than he was four years ago. — John F. Kerry

I commanded a naval gunboat patrolling the Mekong Delta. Then when I came home after two tours of duty, I decided that the same sense of service demanded something more of me. — John F. Kerry

Our military deserves leadership that matches their service and patriotism. Getting our troops the pay raise they deserve is the very least we can do to show how much we value everything they do for us. — John F. Kerry

Folks, Sarah Palin said she could see Russia from Alaska. Mitt Romney talks like he's only seen Russia by watching 'Rocky IV.' — John F. Kerry

We were sent to Vietnam to kill Communism. But we found instead that we were killing women and children. — John F. Kerry

Regime change has been an American policy under the Clinton administration, and it is the current policy. I support the policy. But regime change in and of itself is not sufficient justification for going to war
particularly unilaterally
unless regime change is the only way to disarm Iraq of the weapons of mass destruction pursuant to the United Nations resolution. — John F. Kerry

We should not allow a tiny minority of shoddy scientists and science and extreme ideologues to compete with scientific facts, — John F. Kerry

We are not interested in a proxy war. Our objective is to change Russia's behavior. — John F. Kerry

I want to start by saying something nice about President Bush. Of all the presidents we've had with the last name of Bush, his economic plan ranks in the top two. — John F. Kerry

I can tell you, Massachusetts, fastest growing sector of our economy is clean energy and energy efficiency companies. And they're growing faster than any other sector. — John F. Kerry

You'd be amazed at the number of people who want to introduce themselves to you in the men's room. It's the most bizarre part of this entire thing. — John F. Kerry

Not to wax nostalgic about the 1970s, but back then people got upset when they saw injustice. They got tired of seeing our air, land and water polluted. They were shocked when the Cuyahoga River in Ohio was polluted so badly it caught fire. And on one great day 20 million Americans marched all across this land. Politicians had no choice but to take notice. — John F. Kerry

In this remarkable time for the world, I refuse to believe it's time to stop believing in the possibilities of our remarkable country. I refuse to accept the downsizing of the American Dream. I refuse to bet against American entrepreneurial spirit and American ingenuity.The competition's tough, and it requires us to be tougher - tough-minded, never hard hearted. — John F. Kerry

This is deeply disturbing. Congress provided loans to help businesses hurt by the Sept. 11 attacks, not to be used as an accounting gimmick to cover up this administration's failure to provide for small businesses. — John F. Kerry

Young people have so much more power than they tend to think to be able to affect politics. And if people will organize and get involved and go out and knock on doors and hand out leaflets and make a change, then they can determine the future. — John F. Kerry

We don't differ with the government on the demands [on Iran], but we totally reject how Bibi is handling it. Bibi sacrificed good relations with the U.S. to keep the status quo on the Palestinians. He poked the [Obama] Administration in the eye on settlements just to appease right-wingers — John F. Kerry

America must always be the world's paramount military power, but we can magnify our power through alliances. — John F. Kerry

Those who try to stifle the vibrancy of our democracy and shield policies from scrutiny behind a false cloak of patriotism miss the real value of what our troops defend and how we best defend our troops. We will ask questions and we will defend our democracy. — John F. Kerry

I'm against the partial-birth abortion, but you've got to have an exception for the life of the mother and the health of the mother under the strictest test of bodily injury to the mother. — John F. Kerry

What we need now is not just a regime change in Saddam Hussein and Iraq, but we need a regime change in the United States. — John F. Kerry

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

And here and now we must insist again that fidelity, honor, and love of country demand untrammeled debate and open dissent. At no time is that truer than in the midst of a war rooted in deceit and justified by continuing deception. — John F. Kerry

It's very hard to get other countries to give up their weapons when you're busy developing a new one. — John F. Kerry

Medicare is paid for by the American taxpayer. Medicare belongs to you. Medicare is for seniors, who many of them are on fixed income, to lift them out of poverty. — John F. Kerry

I don't think losing 3 million jobs, having deficits as far as the eye can go, having 2 million people lose their health insurance, turning your back on kids in schools and not funding No Child Left Behind represents a vision. — John F. Kerry

The fact is that in too many parts of our country, we still have discrimination. And affirmative action is not just something that applies to people of color. Some people have a mistaken view of it in America. It also is with respect to women, it's with respect to other efforts to try to reach out and be inclusive in our country. — John F. Kerry

So my judgment is that Syria will move; Syria will change, as it embraces a legitimate relationship with the United States and the West and economic opportunity that comes with it and the participation that comes with it. — John F. Kerry

At every step of the way, George W. Bush has put the narrow interests of the few ahead of the interests of most Americans. — John F. Kerry

We do not need more division. We certainly do not need something as complex and emotional as Vietnam reduced to simple campaign rhetoric. — John F. Kerry

American can do better, and help is on the way. — John F. Kerry

Martin Luther King challenged the conscience of my generation, and his words and his legacy continue to move generations to action today at home and around the world. His love and faith is alive in millions of Americans who volunteer each day in soup kitchens or in schools, or who refused to ignore the suffering of millions they'd never met in far-away places when a tsunami brought unthinkable destruction. His vision and his passion is alive in churches and on campuses when millions stand up against the injustice of discrimination anywhere, or the indifference that leaves too many behind. — John F. Kerry

I get always a little uptight when I hear politicians say how exceptional America is. — John F. Kerry

In a few years, you should be able to plug your American-made plug-in hybrid into the outlet in your garage, so that you never use a drop of gas on your daily commute. This won't happen overnight, but I promise you, it is closer than you think. — John F. Kerry

Republican secretaries of state from Kissinger to Baker, Powell to Rice, President Bush, 71 United States Senators all supported President Obama's new START treaty, but not Mitt Romney. — John F. Kerry

My dad was a member of the Greatest Generation that achieved victory in World War II. This was the generation that saved the world from fascism, came home and built the great American middle class, led the way in the civil rights movement, protected our environment, and created great programs like Medicare. — John F. Kerry

I'm going to be a president who believes in science. — John F. Kerry

I figured out Karl Rove's political strategy
make gas so expensive, no Democrats can afford to go to the polls. — John F. Kerry

This fight against drilling in the Arctic Refuge is a fight about our principles. Its about standing up for our environment, our families and our future, and I wont give up this fight. — John F. Kerry

I'm John Kerry, and I'm reporting for duty, — John F. Kerry

The Ukrainian people should not be coerced. Make no mistake: the US stands together with the Ukrainians aspiring for democracy. — John F. Kerry

Palestinians need to stop the incitement. They need to stop that kind of activity. But at the same time, there is a need to see the broader conflict here and understand that there has to be some kind of ultimately negotiated political track that's going to resolve the difference between Palestinians and Israelis. — John F. Kerry

Terrorist organizations with specific political agendas may be encouraged and emboldened by Yasser Arafat's transformation from outlaw to statesman. — John F. Kerry

The Reagan Administration has no rational plan for our military. Instead, it acts on misinformed assumptions about the strength of the Soviet military and a presumed 'window of vulnerability,' which we now know not to exist. — John F. Kerry

We cannot fight communism all over the world, and I think we should have learned that lesson by now. — John F. Kerry