In 1963, President John F. Kennedy established the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, to celebrate “individuals who have made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors.” This honor succeeded the original Medal of Freedom, created in 1945 by President Harry S. Truman to recognize civilian service.
Since its inception, the medal has been awarded to a diverse array of individuals, including musicians, scientists, authors, athletes, entertainers, diplomats, journalists, comedians, and more. While some recipients may be less familiar to the public, many are widely recognized figures whose work has left an indelible impact.
Here, we’ve compiled quotes from some of the most celebrated Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients, from JFK’s era to today. Though not drawn from their award acceptance speeches, these words capture the perspectives of these extraordinary individuals. May their insights inspire us to pursue excellence in our own lives.
The planet is everybody's. All it offers is the grass, the sky, the water, the ineluctable dream of peace and fruition.
All right. I'm corny. But I think there's just about 140 million people in this country that are just as corny as I am.
You have to dream, you have to have a vision, and you have to set a goal for yourself that might even scare you a little because sometimes that seems far beyond your reach.
A century hence, 2000 may be viewed as quite a primitive period in human history. It's something to hope for.
The battles that count aren't the ones for gold medals. The struggles within yourself — the invisible, inevitable battles inside all of us — that's where it's at.
I hate flowers — I paint them because they're cheaper than models and they don't move!
Non-cooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good.
I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me. All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.
Hollywood dishes out too much praise for small things. I won't let it get me, but too much praise can turn a fellow's head if he doesn't watch his step.
When you're too mad and too rattled to see straight, you're bound to make mistakes. You can't go on and on for years being miserable about a situation and not have it change you.
What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor but the silence of the bystander.
I did not get on the bus to get arrested. I got on the bus to go home.
Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud.
I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.
My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.
I'm an American, and most of the time proud of it. Even when I am displeased with what my country is doing, I am still an American who is displeased.
The work that is called for is the construction of our “more perfect union.” That job will never, ever be completed, one that requires rigorous attention and unfading wherewithal and all hands.
The image is one thing and the human being is another… It's very hard to live up to an image.
We're not just athletes or entertainment — we're human too, and we have real emotions. Sometimes they don't realize that we have things going on behind the scenes that affect us whenever we go out and compete.