The news of Senator Ted Kennedy's malignant brain tumor has America in shock. I don't have anything meaningful to say in my own words, but maybe these quotes from Bartleby.com will provide people with the hope and comfort they seek at this difficult time.
AUTHOR: George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?"
ATTRIBUTION: GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, Back to Methuselah, act I, Selected Plays with Prefaces, vol. 2, p. 7 (1949). The serpent says these words to Eve.
President John F. Kennedy quoted these words in his address to the Irish Parliament, Dublin, June 28, 1963.—Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy, 1963, p. 537.
Senator Robert F. Kennedy used a similar quotation as a theme of his 1968 campaign for the presidential nomination:
"Some men see things as they are and say, why; I dream things that never were and say, why not."
Senator Edward M. Kennedy quoted these words of Robert Kennedy’s in his eulogy for his brother in 1968.—The New York Times, June 9, 1968, p. 56.
Like my three brothers before me, I pick up a fallen standard. Sustained by their memory of our priceless years together I shall try to carry forward that special commitment to justice, to excellence, to courage that distinguished their lives.
ATTRIBUTION: Senator EDWARD M. KENNEDY, speech, Holy Cross College, Worcester, Massachusetts, August 21, 1968, as reported by The New York Times, August 22, 1968, p. 22.
Mr. Romney, the Kennedys are not in public service to make money. We have paid too high a price.
ATTRIBUTION: Edward Kennedy (b. 1932), Democratic senator from Massac. New York Times, p. A1 (October 26, 1994).
Frankly, I don’t mind not being president. I just mind that someone else is.
ATTRIBUTION: To Washington Gridiron Club dinner 22 Mar 86
Come out of the rose garden.
ATTRIBUTION: Challenging President Jimmy Carter to a public debate, news summaries 10 Feb 80
Edward M Kennedy, US Senator
Well, here I don’t go again.
ATTRIBUTION: On decision not to run in 1988 presidential campaign, press conference 20 Dec 85
AUTHOR: Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.)
QUOTATION: I pray for no more youth
To perish before its prime;
That Revenge and iron-heated War
May fade with all that has gone before
Into the night of time.
ATTRIBUTION: AESCHYLUS.—John Lewin, The House of Atreus, p. 110 (1966). This modern version is an adaptation of the Oresteia; the lines above are from Eumenides (The Furies).
Senator Edward Kennedy quoted this passage in testimony before the Commission on Campus Unrest, July 15, 1970.—Congressional Record, vol. 116, p. 24309.
Our prayers our with you and your family and friends, Senator Kennedy.