Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
| NUMBER: | 661 |
| AUTHOR: | John Fitzgerald Kennedy (1917–63) |
| QUOTATION: | In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility—I welcome it. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | President This is one of seven inscriptions carved on the walls at the gravesite of John F. Kennedy, Arlington National Cemetery. |
| SUBJECTS: | Freedom—defense of |