“All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop those talents.”

“Not every child has an equal talent or an equal ability or equal motivation, but they should have the equal right to develop their talent and their ability and their motivation, to make something of themselves.”

“Do not pray for easy times, pray to be stronger. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, pray for powers equal to your tasks.”

“probably the greatest concentration of talent and genius in this house except for perhaps those times when Thomas Jefferson ate alone.”

“LET US THINK OF EDUCATION AS THE MEANS OF DEVELOPING OUR GREATEST ABILITIES, BECAUSE IN EACH OF US THERE IS A PRIVATE HOPE AND DREAM WHICH FULFILLED CAN BE TRANSLATED INTO BENEFIT FOR EVERYONE AND GREATER STRENGTH FOR OUR NATION. ONE PERSON CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE AND EVERYONE SHOULD TRY.”

“So, let us not be blind to our differences--but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.”

“I really don't know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it's because in addition to the fact that the sea changes, and the light changes, and ships change, it's because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea - whether it is to sail or to watch it - we are going back from whence we came.[Remarks at the Dinner for the America's Cup Crews, September 14 1962]”