Who first said "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."?
Upvote:1
Kahlil Gibran (1883-1930) first said it in his book "The New Frontier", although the original quote is a bit lengthier.
The original quote: “Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in a desert.”
Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/opinion/letters/2011/12/13/kennedy-quoted-gibran
Upvote:2
I happened to hear a replay of "The Line Up" on Old Time radio just now, and a patriotic ad on the show (which ran from 1950-1953)featured a brief story of a Medal of Honor winner who'd fought in the Italian campaign and ended with this exact admonition. So, if in fact, Choate's Headmaster was lecturing his students to serve their country back in the 30s (which seems likely) , it was being repeated a decade before JFK's Inauguration speech. There's certainly nothing with the sentiment, of course.
Upvote:4
A summery from some of the comments, which may be interesting to others:
The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy - Wikipedia says This appears to be an elegant rephrasing of Franklin D. Roosevelt's acceptance speech at the 1936 Democratic National Convention :
"To some generations much is given. Of other generations much is expected. This generation of Americans has a rendezvous with destiny."
First inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt - Wikipedia
So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and of vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. And I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days.
Presidency of Warren G. Harding - Inauguration - Wikipedia
My Countrymen: When one surveys the world about him after the great storm, noting the marks of destruction and yet rejoicing in the ruggedness of the things which withstood it, if he is an American he breathes the clarified atmosphere with a strange mingling of regret and new hope. ... Our most dangerous tendency is to expect too much from the government and at the same time do too little for it.
Upvote:9
You can find in a episode of the Walt Disney's TV show "Zorro" the emissary from Spain said, "Ask not what Spain can do for you, but ask what you can do for Spain". That was filmed in 1959. Which was long before JFK said it.
Upvote:16
The Yale Book of Quotations (edited by Fred R. Shapiro) mentions several quotations related to that one. The most likely inspiration for Kennedy's line seems to be the following passage from Khalil Gibran's 1925 essay "The New Frontier":
Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in a desert.
Another one, from an 1884 Memorial Day address by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.:
We pause to become conscious of our national life and to rejoice in it, to recall what our country has done for us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for our country in return.
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