"We do these things not because they are easy, but…

U.S. President John F. Kennedy said this in his “moon speech” at Rice University in Houston, Texas, on September 12, 1962:

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

The jocular sayings “We do this not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy” and “We do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy” have been printed on many images.

“The Programmers’ Credo: we do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy” was posted on Twitter by Pinboard (Maciej Ceglowski) on August 5, 2016.

“We do this not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy” was posted on Twitter by Garry Shutler 👨‍💻📅🚴‍♂️ on August 22, 2021. “WE DO THIS NOT BECAUSE IT IS EASY, BUT BECAUSE WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE EASY” (shown on an image) was posted on Twitter by Pete Brown @ Microsoft::Windows on December 27, 2022.

The History Place—Great Speeches Collection
John F. Kennedy We choose to go to the Moon…
On a very hot late summer’s day in 1962, President Kennedy visited Rice University in Houston, Texas, and gave this speech outdoors in the football stadium. The President spoke in philosophical terms about the need to solve the mysteries of space, reaffirmed America’s commitment to landing a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s and also defended the enormous expense of the space program.
(...)
We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.
(...)
President John F. Kennedy - September 12, 1962

Twitter
Pinboard
@Pinboard
The Programmers’ Credo: we do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy
4:15 PM · Aug 5, 2016

Twitter
Aras Pranckevičius 🇺🇦🇱🇹
@aras_p
“The Programmers’ Credo: we do these things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy” via @maverikou
9:07 AM · Oct 28, 2016

Twitter
TheBrowser
@TheBrowser
“We do things not because they are easy, but because we thought they were going to be easy”
— Maciej Ceglowski
4:37 PM · Jan 3, 2018

Twitter
Garry Shutler 👨‍💻📅🚴‍♂️
@gshutler
We do this not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy.
See also: “it’s 80% done”
Quote Tweet
Joe Hart 🏳️‍🌈 (deprecated)
@JoeHart
·
Aug 20, 2021
Never underestimate a group of software engineers ability to underestimate complexity of a project and domain.
Show this thread
5:16 AM · Aug 22, 2021

Twitter
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
@Anubis2814
“We do this not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy.” - .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) I feel called out.
1:02 PM · Oct 24, 2021

Twitter
Martha Smith
@mostlymartha
Replying to @mcakotp and @bibliogrrl
My brother says, “We do this not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy.”
5:04 PM · Mar 9, 2022

Twitter
Pete Brown @ Microsoft::Windows
@Pete_Brown
Today’s inspirational message 😉
(The following text is shown on an image. - -ed.)
WE DO THIS
NOT BECAUSE
IT IS EASY,
BUT BECAUSE
WE THOUGHT
IT WOULD BE EASY
12:51 PM · Dec 27, 2022

Twitter
Kunal Shah
@kunalb11
Startups.
(The following text is shown on an image. - -ed.)
WE DO THIS
NOT BECAUSE
IT IS EASY,
BUT BECAUSE
WE THOUGHT
IT WOULD BE EASY
2:52 AM · Dec 28, 2022

Twitter
Alys Murray
@writeralys
ALT TEXT: A retweet of an image with a red flag that reads, in white lettering, “We do this not because it is easy, but because we thought it would be easy.”
10:34 AM · Dec 29, 2022

Twitter
Bob Kostic
@causticbob
JFK
(The following text is shown on an image. - -ed.)
WE DO THIS
NOT BECAUSE
IT IS EASY,
BUT BECAUSE
WE THOUGHT
IT WOULD BE EASY
7:34 PM · Jan 3, 2023