This being the 50th anniversary of the shooting of President John F. Kennedy, and the 50th anniversary of my first memory of any public event — or any event that occurred beyond my neighborhood, for that matter — I want to commemorate JFK by sharing five of my favorite JFK quotes. Feel free to add your own in the comments below. (If you need some help, there’s a lot of material on BrainyQuote.)
1. “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”
2. “Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.”
3. “A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on.”
4. “Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past. Let us accept our own responsibility for the future.”
And finally, appropriate for this time of year:
5. “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
Andy writes! 
Thanks for sharing, Andrew. I still remember when I saw JFK in person and where I was and what I did on this memorable day so long ago. He had lots of memorable quotes and one that didn’t make your list but has always been on mine is the one about “Not asking what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cVSasBA-vg
I was wondering if you remembered it, I think I do too. I’d like to hear about your memory,
John – Thanks for sharing that quote and the YouTube link to that inaugural address. It’s a great, timeless speech.
Mark – I was barely 3 years old at the time. We were living in Wakefield, Mass., a suburb of Boston, and before this incident I had no idea of the world beyond my back yard and my neighborhood. (Which should be typical of most 3-year-olds.) I remember women from our neighborhood meeting with my mother at our house, all weeping, and talking about how our president had been shot. I don’t remember much about it, except that I felt sadness, and felt that something large and unfathomable and terrible had entered our world. My memory is fuzzy, but I still recall women weeping in our home on 2 Park Avenue, Wakefield, Mass., on Nov. 22, 1963.