Edward Kennedy famous quotes

No one who works for a living should live in poverty.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Poverty #Should

For me, a few hours ago, this campaign came to an end. For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Dream #Causes #Campaigns

What divides us pales in comparison to what unites us.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Diversity #Pale #Comparison

The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Dream #Hope #Political

Integrity is the lifeblood of democracy. Deceit is a poison in its veins.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Lying #Integrity #Hype

It's disgraceful that year after year, Congress has bowed to the tobacco lobby and refused to act.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Years #Smoking #Congress

In the United States Senate, one of the things I observed in the early days - and it's still used - and that is that you take someone's argument and then you misrepresent it and misstate and disagree with it. And it's very effective. I've done it myself a number of times. But eventually, eventually people catch on.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Freedom #Numbers #People

We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we made.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Believe #Compassion #I Believe

My colleague Sen. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican, erroneously suggested that I support the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to biological evolution. That simply is not true. ... Unlike biological evolution, intelligent design is not a genuine scientific theory and, therefore, has no place in the curriculum of our nation's public school science classes.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Teaching #School #Intelligent

Shamefully we now learn that Saddam's torture chambers reopened under new management, U.S. management.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Management #Terrorism #Torture

Have faith in yourself and in the future.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Inspire #Have Faith #Faith In Yourself

Frankly, I don't mind not being President. I just mind that someone else is.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Political #Mind #President

For all my years in public life, I have believed that America must sail toward the shores of liberty and justice for all. There is no end to that journey, only the next great voyage. We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Believe #Journey #Years

We need the breast and the brightest to- umm the best and the brightest...
-- Edward Kennedy

#Needs #Breasts

I applaud the fact that the president has reached out to the members of Judiciary Committee. And I applaud. the fact that he has been meeting with members of the Judiciary Committee. He's been seeking out Republicans as well as Democrats.
-- Edward Kennedy

#President #Facts #Republican

Wanted or unwanted, I believe that human life, even at its earliest stages, has certain rights which must be recognized – the right to be born, the right to love, the right to grow old....When history looks back to this era it should recognize this generation as one which cared about human beings enough to halt the practice of war, to provide a decent living for every family, and to fulfill its responsibility to its children from the very moment of conception.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Children #War #Believe

The real transgression occurs when religion wants government to tell citizens how to live uniquely personal parts of their lives. The failure of Prohibition proves the futility of such an attempt when a majority or even a substantial minority happens to disagree. Some questions may be inherently individual ones, or people may be sharply divided about whether they are. In such cases, like Prohibition and abortion, the proper role of religion is to appeal to the conscience of the individual, not the coercive power of the state.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Real #Government #People

Dad, I'm in some trouble. There's been an accident and you're going to hear all sorts of things about me from now on. Terrible things.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Dad #History #Trouble

Historians will come to their own judgments about President Kennedy. Here is how I choose to remember him. He was an heir to wealth who felt the anguish of the poor. He was an orator of excellence who spoke for the voiceless. He was a son of Harvard who reached out to the sons and daughters of Appalachia. He was a man of special grace who had a special care for the retarded and handicapped. He was a hero of war who fought hardest for peace. He said and proved in word and deed that one man can make a difference.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Daughter #War #Hero

I think a child calling for his mother is the most beautiful sound in the world.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Beautiful #Mother #Children

Make no mistake about it! There is an organized movement against organized labor and it's called the Bush Administration.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Mistake #Labor Day #Administration

The Constitution does not just protect those whose views we share; it also protects those with whose views we disagree.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Views #Doe #Constitution

There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Leadership #War #Hype

I have fallen short in my life, but my faith has always brought me home.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Home #Fallen

This is the greatest lesson a child can learn. It is the greatest lesson anyone can learn. It has been the greatest lesson I have learned: if you persevere, stick w/it, work @ it, you have a real opportunity to achieve something. Sure, there will be storms along the way. And you might not reach your goal right away. But if you do your best and keep a true compass, you'll get there.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Children #Real #Opportunity

She's a wonderful, wonderful person, and we're looking to a happy and wonderful night - ah, life.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Night #Politics #Wonderful

As a society, we've learned that we're all better off when everyone is included in the opportunities of this great nation.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Opportunity #Society

Thus, the controversy about the Moral Majority arises not only from its views, but from its name - which, in the minds of many, seems to imply that only one set of public policies is moral and only one majority can possibly be right.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Names #Views #Mind

Violence is an admission that one's ideas and goals cannot prevail on their own merits.
-- Edward Kennedy

#War #Ideas #Goal

Legal immigrants play by the rules and come in under the law. They work, raise their families, pay taxes, and serve in the Armed Forces. ... Legal immigrants do not seek to cross the border, or overstay their visas. They come here the right way. ... And, by and large, they are here as the result of reunifying families...
-- Edward Kennedy

#Law #Play #Immigration

We should strengthen our immigration laws to prevent the importation of foreign wages and working conditions. We should make it illegal for employers to lay off Americans and then fill their jobs by bringing in workers from overseas. Any U.S. employer who wishes to hire from abroad - even for temporary jobs - should have to recruit U.S. workers first. And we should end the unskilled immigration that competes with young Americans just entering the job market.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Jobs #Law #Wish

Never listen to a phone call that isn't meant for you. Never read a letter that isn't meant for you. Never pay attention to a comment that isn't meant for you. Never violate people's privacy. You will save yourself a lot of anguish.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Phones #People #Advice

Immigrant families have integrated themselves into our communities, establishing deep roots. Whenever they have settled, they have made lasting contributions to the economic vitality and diversity of our communities and our nation. Our economy depends on these hard-working, taxpaying workers. They have assisted America in its economic boom.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Hard Work #Roots #America

Our commitment to this founding principle is especially relevant today. Americans are united as rarely before in compassion and generosity for our fellow citizens whose lives have been devastated by Hurricane Katrina, The powerful winds and floodwater of Katrina tore away the mask that has hidden from public view the many Americans who are left out and left behind.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Powerful #Commitment #Compassion

If you persevere, stick with it, wok at it, you have a real opportunity to achieve. If you do your best and keep a true compass, you'll get there.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Perseverance #Real #Opportunity

My brother need not be idealized or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life, to be remembered as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Brother #War #Men

In fact, the legal system is in part responsible for their very size and growth. And too often when the individual finds himself in conflict with these forces, the legal system sides with the giant institution, not the small businessman or private citizen.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Growth #Giants #Citizens

I hope for an America where neither "fundamentalist" nor "humanist" will be a dirty word, but a fair description of the different ways in which people of good will look at life and into their own souls.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Dirty #America #People

We cannot simply speak out against an escalation of troops in Iraq, we must act to prevent it... There can be no doubt that the Constitution gives Congress the authority to decide whether to fund military action, and Congress can demand a justification from the president for such action before it appropriates the funds to carry it out.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Military #Iraq #Giving

I get up very early in the morning. I enjoy the quietness, the stillness, the rawness in the winter and fall. It's a special time.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Morning #Fall #Winter

From the windows of my office in Boston ... I can see the Golden Stairs from Boston Harbor where all eight of my great-grandparents set foot on this great land for the first time. That immigrant spirit of limitless possibility animates America even today.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Eight #Boston #Land

use every tool in our arsenal to ensure that his nomination is rejected again this year.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Years #Rejection #Tools

The separation of church and state can sometimes be frustrating for women and men of religious faith. They may be tempted to misuse government in order to impose a value which they cannot persuade others to accept. But once we succumb to that temptation, we step onto a slippery slope where everyone's freedom is at risk.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Religious #Men #Order

Individual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in - and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Giving #Faults #Common

My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us, and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: 'Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.'
-- Edward Kennedy

#Dream #Brother #War

Do we operate under a system of equal justice under law? Or is there one system for the average citizen and another for the high and mighty?
-- Edward Kennedy

#Average #Law #Justice

What we have in the United States is not so much a health-care system as a disease-care system.
-- Edward Kennedy

#United States #Care #Disease

Health care is not just another commodity. It is not a gift to be rationed based on the ability to pay. It is time to make universal health insurance a national priority, so that the basic right to health care can finally become a reality for every American.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Reality #Priorities #Care

We have known for many years that Saddam Hussein is seeking and developing weapons of mass destruction.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Years #Hussein #Weapons

It appears that legal positions that you have supported have been used by the administration, the military, and the CIA to justify torture and Geneva Convention violations by military and civilian personnel.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Military #Administration #Used

There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein's regime is a serious danger, that he is a tyrant, and that his pursuit of lethal weapons of mass destruction cannot be tolerated. He must be disarmed.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Tyrants #Doubt #Hussein

With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion. With Barack Obama we will close the book on the old politics of race against race, gender against gender, ethnic group against ethnic group, and straight against gay.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Book #Gay #Race

People of faith should not invoke the power of the state to decide what everyone can believe or think or read or do. In such cases, like abortion or prayer or prohibition or sexual identity, the proper role of religion is to appeal to the free conscience of each person, not the coercive rule of secular law.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Prayer #Believe #Thinking

I believe that religious witness should not mobilize public authority to impose a view where a decision is inherently private in nature or where people are deeply divided about whether it is... Americans are plainly and persistently divided about abortion and the fiat of government cannot settle the issue as a matter of conscience or of conduct.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Religious #Believe #Government

I favor access to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Favors #Discrimination #Bases

A good marriage is loving someone in a lot of different circumstances. Respect for them and their views and ideas and the life that they're leading with you. Shared values and interests. A good sense of humour. And a little volatility along the way.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Views #Ideas #Loving Someone

Regulation has gone astray. . . . Either because they have become captives of regulated industries or captains of outmoded administrative agencies, regulators all too often encourage or approve unreasonably high prices, inadequate service, and anticompetitive behavior. The cost of this regulation is always passed on to the consumer. And that cost is astronomical.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Agency #Cost #Gone

The Republicans are looking after the financial interests of the wealthiest individuals in this country.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Country #Conservative #Financial

I won't yield to anyone about guns in our society. I know enough about it.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Gun #Yield #Politics

The AMA puts the lives and well being of the American citizens well below it's own special interest...It deserves to be ignored, rejected, and forgotten. No amount of historical gymnastics can hide the public record of AMA opposition to virtually every major health reform in the past 50 years....The AMA has turned into a propaganda organ purveying 'medical politics' for deceiving the Congress, the people, and the doctors of America themselves.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Dark #Gymnastics #Past

The city of Hiroshima stands as more than a monument to massive death and destruction. It stands as a living testament to the necessity for progress toward nuclear disarmament.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Science #Cities #Progress

I don't think you're going to be a success in anything if you think about losing, whether it's in sports or in politics.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Sports #Thinking #Losing

We were taught never to give up, never to passively accept fate, but to exhaust every last ounce of will and hope in the face of any challenge.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Giving Up #Fate #Challenges

It's better to send in the Peace Corps than the Marine Corps.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Marine #Marine Corps #Peace Corps

Were I to make the announcement and to run, the reasons I would run is because I have a great belief in this country [America]. ... There's more natural resources than any nation in the world; the greatest education population in the world; the greatest technology of any country in the world; the greatest capacity for innovation in the world; and the greatest political system in the world.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Running #Country #Technology

It's now clear that from the very moment President Bush took office, Iraq was his highest priority as unfinished business from the first Bush Administration. His agenda was clear: find a rationale to get rid of Saddam.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Iraq #Office #Priorities

I don't think America can just drill itself out of its current energy situation. We don't need to destroy the environment to meet our energy needs. We need smart, comprehensive, common-sense approaches that balance the need to increase domestic energy supplies with the need to maximize energy efficiency.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Smart #Science #Thinking

We should stop the non-scientific, pseudo-scientific, and anti-scientific nonsense emanating from the right wing, and start demanding immediate action to reduce global warming and prevent catastrophic climate change that may be on our horizon now. We must not let the [Bush] Administration distort science and rewrite and manipulate scientific reports in other areas. We must not let it turn the Environmental Protection Agency into the Environmental Pollution Agency.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Science #Agency #Wings

Earlier this week ... scientists announced the completion of a task that once seemed unimaginable; and that is, the deciphering of the entire DNA sequence of the human genetic code. This amazing accomplishment is likely to affect the 21st century as profoundly as the invention of the computer or the splitting of the atom affected the 20th century. I believe that the 21st century will be the century of life sciences, and nothing makes that point more clearly than this momentous discovery. It will revolutionize medicine as we know it today.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Believe #Dna #Discovery

Keep your tax-cutting, greedy hands off our medicare
-- Edward Kennedy

#Stupid #Humorous #Cutting

Health care is a right, not a privilege.
-- Edward Kennedy

#Care #Politics #Privilege