Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
| NUMBER: | 52 |
| AUTHOR: | John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–63) |
| QUOTATION: | We cannot expect that everyone, to use the phrase of a decade ago, will “talk sense to the American people.” But we can hope that fewer people will listen to nonsense. And the notion that this Nation is headed for defeat through deficit, or that strength is but a matter of slogans, is nothing but just plain nonsense. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | President This speech was never delivered. President Kennedy was on his way to the Trade Mart when he was assassinated. Kennedy referred to Adlai E. Stevenson’s slogan from the 1952 presidential election campaign, No. 85. |
| SUBJECTS: | America |