The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Preface

Keep me, O keep me, King of Kings,
Beneath thy own almighty wings.
‘Evening Hymn’ in Winchester College ‘Manual of Prayers’ (1695) but in use before 1674 (the first line later
changed to ‘Glory to thee, my God this night’)
Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed.
‘Evening Hymn’ in Winchester College ‘Manual of Prayers’ (1695) but in use before 1674
11.21 John F. Kennedy 1917-63
We stand today on the edge of a new frontier...But the New Frontier of which I speak 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 intend to ask of them.
Speech accepting the Democratic nomination in Los Angeles, 15 July 1960, in ‘Vital Speeches’ 1 August
1960, p. 611
Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been
passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by
a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the
slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to
which we are committed today at home and around the world. Let every nation know, whether it
wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any
friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
Inaugural address, 20 January 1961, in ‘Vital Speeches’ 1 February 1961, p. 226
If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.
Inaugural address, 20 January 1961, in ‘Vital Speeches’ 1 February 1961, p. 226
Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.
Inaugural address, 20 January 1961, in ‘Vital Speeches’ 1 February 1961, p. 227
All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days,
nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us
begin.
Inaugural address, 20 January 1961, in ‘Vital Speeches’ 1 February 1961, p. 227
Now the trumpet summons us again—not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need—not as
a call to battle, though embattled we are—but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle,
year in and year out, ‘rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation’—a struggle against the common
enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.
Inaugural address, 20 January 1961, in ‘Vital Speeches’ 1 February 1961, p. 227
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do
for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what
together we can do for the freedom of man.
Inaugural address, 20 January 1961, in ‘Vital Speeches’ 1 February 1961, p. 227. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.,
speaking at Keene, New Hampshire, 30 May 1884 said: ‘We pause to...recall what our country has done for
each of us and to ask ourselves what we can do for our country in return’; but the form of words chosen by