Poverty has many roots, but the tap root is ignorance
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: One liners, Ignorance
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.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: America
The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Voting
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.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Prayer
The exercise of power in this century has meant for all of us in the United States not arrogance, but agony.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Power
I believe, with abiding conviction, that this people-nurtured by their deep faith, tutored by their hard lessons, moved by their high aspirations-have the will to meet the trials that these times impose.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Aspirations
If we are to live together in peace, we must come to know each other better.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Peace
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.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Religion
Tell the Vietnamese they’ve got to draw in their horns or we’re going to bomb them back into the Stone Age.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
I’m the only president you’ve got.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Presidency
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.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Tyranny
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.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
It is the common failing of totalitarian regimes that they cannot really understand the nature of our democracy. They mistake dissent for disloyalty. They mistake restlessness for a rejection of policy. They mistake a few committees for a country. They misjudge individual speeches for public policy.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Democracy, Government
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.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
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.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
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.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
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.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
I’d rather give my life than be afraid to give it.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Courage, Bravery
Where legitimate opportunities are closed, illegitimate opportunities are seized. Whatever opens opportunity and hope will help to prevent crime and foster responsibility.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Opportunity
Doing what’s right isn’t the problem. It is knowing what’s right.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Leadership, Leaders
Every night before I turn out the lights to sleep, I ask myself this question: Have I done everything that I can … Have I done enough?
—Lyndon B. Johnson
The noblest search is the search for excellence.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Excellence
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.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Twentieth Century, Society
Freedom is not enough.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Freedom
Success only feeds the appetite of aggression.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Every man has a right to a Saturday night bath
—Lyndon B. Johnson
I’m tired. I’m tired of feeling rejected by the American people. I’m tired of waking up in the middle of the night worrying about the war.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Worry
Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: The Future, Tomorrow
I never trust a man unless I’ve got his pecker in my pocket.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Trust
There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.
—Lyndon B. Johnson
Topics: Unity
Wondering Whom to Read Next?
- Hubert Humphrey American Head of State
- Richard Nixon American Head of State
- John F. Kennedy American Head of State
- Ronald Reagan American Head of State
- Jimmy Carter American Head of State
- Theodore Roosevelt American Head of State
- George H. W. Bush American Head of State
- Herbert Hoover American Statesman
- Dwight D. Eisenhower American Head of State
- Calvin Coolidge American Head of State
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