The life of the arts, far from being an interruption, a distraction, in the life of a nation, is very close to the center of a nation's purpose... and is a test of the quality of a nation's civilization.

"LOOK Magazine Article 'The Arts in America' (552)" December 18, 1962, Public Papers of the President: John F. Kennedy, 1962. Inscribed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C.