Lyndon B. Johnson: Quotations



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There can no longer be anyone too poor to vote.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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As it was 189 years ago, so today the cause of America is a revolutionary cause. And I am proud this morning to salute you as fellow revolutionaries. Neither you nor I are willing to accept the tyranny of poverty, nor the dictatorship of ignorance, nor the despotism of ill health, nor the oppression of bias and prejudice and bigotry. We want change. We want progress. We want it both abroad and at homeand we aim to get it.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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You aren't learning anything when you're talking.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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Our mission is at once the oldest and the most basic of this country: to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man. Because all Americans just must have the right to vote. And we are going to give them that right. All Americans must have the privileges of citizenship regardless of race. And they are going to have those privileges of citizenship regardless of race.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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Boys, I may not know much, but I know chicken shit from chicken salad.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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Doing what's right isn't the problem. It is knowing what's right.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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I believe that the essence of government lies with unceasing concern for the welfare and dignity and decency and innate integrity of life for every individual. I dont like to say this and wish I didnt have to add these words to make it clear but I willregardless of color, creed, ancestry, sex or age.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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To hunger for use and to go unused is the worst hunger of all.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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Son, in politics you've got to learn that overnight chicken shit can turn to chicken salad.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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The poor suffer twice at the rioter's hands. First, his destructive fury scars their neighborhood; second, the atmosphere of accommodation and consent is changed to one of hostility and resentment.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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The moon and other celestial bodies should be free for exploration and use by all countries. No country should be permitted to advance a claim of sovereignty.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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x Spoken by character (if from fictional work):

The hungry world cannot be fed until and unless the growth of its resources and the growth of its population come into balance. Each man and woman-and each nation --must make decisions of conscience and policy in the face of this great problem.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents. It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community. It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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We must open the doors of opportunity.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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The great society is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goods than with the quantity of their goods.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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It is the genius of our Constitution that under its shelter of enduring institutions and rooted principles there is ample room for the rich fertility of American political invention.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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We dont propose to sit here in our rocking chair with our hands folded and let the Communists set up any government in the Western Hemisphere.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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I hope that you of the IPA will go out into the hinterland and rouse the masses and blow the bugles and tell them that the hour has arrived and their day is here; that we are on the march against the ancient enemies and we are going to be successful.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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Heck by the time a man scratches his behind, clears his throat, and tells me how smart he is, we've already wasted fifteen minutes.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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We live in a world that has narrowed into a neighborhood before it has broadened into a brotherhood.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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I dont believe in labels. I want to do the best I can, all the time. I want to be progressive without getting both feet off the ground at the same time. I want to be prudent without having my mind closed to anything that is new or different. I have often said that I was proud that I was a free man first and an American second, and a public servant third and a Democrat fourth, in that order, and I guess as a Democrat, if I had to takeplace a label on myself, I would want to be a progressive who is prudent.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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x Spoken by character (if from fictional work):

I am going to build the kind of nation that President Roosevelt hoped for, President Truman worked for, and President Kennedy died for.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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A man without a vote is man without protection.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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Every child must be encouraged to get as much education as he has the ability to take. We want this not only for his sakebut for the nations sake. Nothing matters more to the future of our country: not military preparednessfor armed might is worthless if we lack the brain power to build a world of peace; not our productive economyfor we cannot sustain growth without trained manpower; not our democratic system of governmentfor freedom is fragile if citizens are ignorant.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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The separation of church and state is a source of strength, but the conscience of our nation does not call for separation between men of state and faith in the Supreme Being.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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x Spoken by character (if from fictional work):

Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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As man draws nearer to the stars, why should he not also draw nearer to his neighbor?

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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Europe has been at peace since 1945. But it is a restless peace thats shadowed by the threat of violence. Europe is partitioned. An unnatural line runs through the heart of a very great and a very proud nation [Germany]. History warns us that until this harsh division has been resolved, peace in Europe will never be secure. We must turn to one of the great unfinished tasks of our generationand that unfinished task is making Europe whole again.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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x Spoken by character (if from fictional work):

The exercise of power in this century has meant for all of us in the United States not arrogance, but agony.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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In Asia we face an ambitious and aggressive China, but we have the will and we have the strength to help our Asian friends resist that ambition. Sometimes our folks get a little impatient. Sometimes they rattle their rockets some, and they bluff about their bombs. But we are not about to send American boys 9 or 10,000 miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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I'm the only president you've got.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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The noblest search is the search for excellence.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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The men who have guided the destiny of the United States have found the strength for their tasks by going to their knees. This private unity of public men and their God is an enduring source of reassurance for the people of America.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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x Spoken by character (if from fictional work):

The challenge of the next half century is whether we have the wisdom to use that wealth to enrich and elevate our national life, and to advance the quality of our American civilization. The Great Society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed in our time. But that is just the beginning. The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents. It is a place where leisure is a welcome chance to build and reflect, not a feared cause of boredom and restlessness. It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community. It is a place where man can renew contact with nature. It is a place which honors creation for its own sake and for what it adds to the understanding of the race. It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods. But most of all, the Great Society is not a safe harbor, a resting place, a final objective, a finished work. It is a challenge constantly renewed, beckoning us toward a destiny where the meaning of our lives matches the marvelous products of our labor.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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Jerry Ford is so dumb he can't fart and chew gum at the same time.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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Every man should know that his conversations, his correspondence, and his personal life are private. I have urged Congressexcept when the Nations security is at staketo take action to that end.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

x Source:: Inaugural Address of Lyndon B. Johnson

x Spoken by character (if from fictional work):

The world has narrowed to a neighborhood before it has broadened to a brotherhood.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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A president's hardest task is not to do what is right, but to know what is right.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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If we are to live together in peace, we must come to know each other better.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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In the Great Society, work shall be an outlet for mans interests and desires. Each individual shall have full opportunity to use his capacities in employment which satisfies personally and contributes generally to the quality of the Nations life.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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x Spoken by character (if from fictional work):

A rioter with a Molotov cocktail in his hands is not fighting for civil rights any more than a Klansman with a sheet on his back and a mask on his face.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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x Spoken by character (if from fictional work):

I pray we are still a young and courageous nation, that we have not grown so old and so fat and so prosperous that all we can think about is to sit back with our arms around our money bags. If we choose to do that I have no doubt that the smoldering fires will burst into flame and consume us -- dollars and all.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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x Spoken by character (if from fictional work):

In the last few decades entire new categories of waste have come to plague and menace the American scene. Pollution is growing at a rapid rate. Pollution destroys beauty and menaces health. It cuts down on efficiency, reduces property values and raises taxes. Almost all these wastes and pollutions are the result of activities carried on for the benefit of man. A prime national goal must be an environment that is pleasing to the senses and healthy to live in. Our Government is already doing much in this field. We have made significant progress. But more must be done.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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I'd rather give my life than be afraid to give it.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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The guns and bombs, the rockets and the warships, all are symbols of human failure.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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If you're I politics and you can't tell when you walk into a room who's for you and who's against you, then you're in the wrong line of work.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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We come to reason, not to dominate. We do not seek to have our way, but to find a common way.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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x Spoken by character (if from fictional work):

This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America. I urge this Congress and all Americans to join with me in that effort.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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The American city should be a collection of communities where every member has a right to belong. It should be a place where every man feels safe on his streets and in the house of his friends. It should be a place where each individuals dignity and self-respect is strengthened by the respect and affection of his neighbors. It should be a place where each of us can find the satisfaction and warmth which comes from being a member of the community of man. This is what man sought at the dawn of civilization. It is what we seek today.

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

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x Spoken by character (if from fictional work):

It is the excitement of becoming - always becoming, trying, probing, falling, resting, and trying again- but always trying and always gaining...

x Author:: Lyndon B. Johnson

x Source:: Inaugural Address of Lyndon B. Johnson

x Spoken by character (if from fictional work):

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