“Ask not what your country can do ….”

I know that in many Americans homes there hangs a plaque with the famous statement by the late John F Kennedy:

“Ask not your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country”.

The truth, and this may be unpalatable for many, is that John Kennedy was not the first to use these famous words. That honour goes to the famous Lebanese Arab/American writer Kahlil Gibran (December 6, 1883 - April 10, 1931) – he who wrote The Prophet.

In an essay, written obviously before he died in 1931, originally in Arabic, but translated into English with the title “The New Frontier” Gibran wrote:

“Are you are a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country”.  

I found this “fact” in a book, published in 1965 containing a collection of works written by Gibran called “Mirrors of the Soul”. The essay from which the quote was taken, was written in 1925 - most certainly before Kennedy used it in his famous speech.

So there we are. Just thought you might like to have the record set straight – sorry if you are disappointed or disillusioned.