I believe that we are lost here in America, but I believe we shall be found. And this belief, which mounts now to the catharsis of knowledge and conviction, is for me--and I think for all of us--not only our own hope, but America's everlasting, living dream.

Thomas Wolfe
About This Quote

This quote is by President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated less than two years after he gave this speech. It was written by Frank Mankiewicz, the speechwriter who took notes for Kennedy's first inaugural address. The key word in that sentence is "believe." It means to have faith in something, but it also means to have confidence in something.

Faith can be blind, and so can confidence, but belief is the opposite of that. Belief is based on facts.

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