美国人很喜欢的总统肯尼迪(JFK),在就职演说中有这么一句话:”我的美国同胞,不要问你的国家能为你做什么,问你能为你的国家做什么?“(“my fellow Americans:ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country.”)
肯尼迪在被提名为民主党总统候选人时的演说有这么一句话:“这是我们这个民族必须作出的选择,这是公共利益和个人安逸之间的选择,是民族兴盛和民族衰亡之间的选择,是‘进步’的新鲜空气和‘常态’的陈旧凝重空气之间的选择,是积极奉献和无所作为之间的选择.”(That is the choice our nation must make--a choice that lies not merely between two men or two parties,but between the public interest and private comfort--between national greatness and national decline--between the fresh air of progress and the stale,dank atmosphere of"normalcy"--between determined dedication and creeping mediocrity.)