Thomas Jefferson

Jefferson (1743-1826), born in Goochland, Virginia, was a philosopher, architect, statesman, and third president of the United States. He also served as governor of Virginia, minister to France, secretary of state, and vice president. Jefferson is best known for being the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, and for the Louisiana purchase, which doubled the size of the country. He spent his years after the presidency establishing the University of Virginia.

1. We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

2. Eternal Vigilance is the price of liberty.

3. No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it.

4. Information is the currency of democracy.

5. The most valuable of all talents is never using two words when one will do.

6. When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, one hundred.

7. Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.

8. I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.

9. Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.

10. It is part of the American character to consider nothing as desperate - to surmount every difficulty by resolution and contrivance.

John f. Kennedy

While it was brief, Kennedy's (1917-1963) time on the world stage as US President captivated the nation, and in some ways the world, as none other ever has.

1. It is time for a new generation of leadership, to cope with new problems and new opportunities. For there is a new world to be won. (July 4, 1960)

2. The New Frontier I speak of is not a set of promises--it is a set of challenges. It sums up not what I intend to offer the American people, but what I intent to ask of them.

3. For those to whom much is given, much is required. (Jan 9, 1961)

4. Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate.

5. If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich. (Inaugural Address, Jan 20, 1961)

6. All this will not be finished in the first one hundred days. Nor will it be finished in the first one thousand days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin. (Inaugural Address, Jan 20, 1961)

7. And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country. (Inaugural Address, Jan 20, 1961)

8. I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together at the White House, with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone. (Address to Nobel Prizewinners, 4/62)

9. Every American ought to have the right to be treated as he would wish to be treated, as one would wish his children to be treated. this is not the case. (June 12, 1963)