Now we may have more preachers out there than we have drinkers. But a fellow told me a story one time about a man down in Kentucky, where they make bourbon. And he said you can take a jigger, or two jiggers, and get by all right. But if you try to take the whole bottle, why you have lost what you started with. So don’t try to take it too quick. And don’t try to do all of it at once.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
“Remarks to a Group of Southern Negroes,” speech (1965-04-02)
Johnson frequently used this metaphor. E.g., on submitting major policy legislation to Congress in small, individual bills, rather than as a full program:
It's like a bottle of bourbon. If you take it a glass at a time, it's fine. But if you drink the whole bottle in one evening, you have troubles. I plan to take a sip at a time and enjoy myself.
[Source]
And along the same lines:
Congress is like a whiskey drinker. You can put an awful lot of whiskey into a man if you just let him sip it. But if you try to force the whole bottle down his throat at one time, he'll just throw it up.
[Source]
Quotations by:
Johnson, Lyndon
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 home — and we aim to get it.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
“Remarks to College Students Employed by the Government During the Summer,” speech, White House (1965-08-04)
(Source)
At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man’s unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.
There, long-suffering men and women peacefully protested the denial of their rights as Americans. Many were brutally assaulted. One good man, a man of God, was killed.
There is no cause for pride in what has happened in Selma. There is no cause for self-satisfaction in the long denial of equal rights of millions of Americans. But there is cause for hope and for faith in our democracy in what is happening here tonight.
For the cries of pain and the hymns and protests of oppressed people have summoned into convocation all the majesty of this great Government — the Government of the greatest Nation on earth.Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
“The American Promise,” speech to a Joint Session of Congress [04:25] (1965-03-15)
(Source)
A nationally broadcast address, introducing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The mention of Selma is in reference to the events of "Bloody Sunday" on 7 March 1965.
In our time we have come to live with moments of great crisis. Our lives have been marked with debate about great issues; issues of war and peace, issues of prosperity and depression. But rarely in any time does an issue lay bare the secret heart of America itself. Rarely are we met with a challenge, not to our growth or abundance, our welfare or our security, but rather to the values and the purposes and the meaning of our beloved Nation.
The issue of equal rights for American Negroes is such an issue. And should we defeat every enemy, should we double our wealth and conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this issue, then we will have failed as a people and as a nation.Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
“The American Promise,” speech to a Joint Session of Congress [06:27] (1965-03-15)
(Source)
There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem. And we are met here tonight as Americans — not as Democrats or Republicans — we are met here as Americans to solve that problem.
This was the first nation in the history of the world to be founded with a purpose. The great phrases of that purpose still sound in every American heart, North and South: “All men are created equal” — “government by consent of the governed” — “give me liberty or give me death.” Well, those are not just clever words, or those are not just empty theories. In their name Americans have fought and died for two centuries, and tonight around the world they stand there as guardians of our liberty, risking their lives.
Those words are a promise to every citizen that he shall share in the dignity of man. This dignity cannot be found in a man’s possessions; it cannot be found in his power, or in his position. It really rests on his right to be treated as a man equal in opportunity to all others. It says that he shall share in freedom, he shall choose his leaders, educate his children, and provide for his family according to his ability and his merits as a human being.
To apply any other test — to deny a man his hopes because of his color or race, his religion or the place of his birth — is not only to do injustice, it is to deny America and to dishonor the dead who gave their lives for American freedom.Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
“The American Promise,” speech to a Joint Session of Congress [07:41] (1965-03-15)
(Source)
Many of the issues of civil rights are very complex and most difficult. But about this there can and should be no argument. Every American citizen must have an equal right to vote. There is no reason which can excuse the denial of that right. There is no duty which weighs more heavily on us than the duty we have to ensure that right.
Yet the harsh fact is that in many places in this country men and women are kept from voting simply because they are Negroes.
Every device of which human ingenuity is capable has been used to deny this right. The Negro citizen may go to register only to be told that the day is wrong, or the hour is late, or the official in charge is absent. And if he persists, and if he manages to present himself to the registrar, he may be disqualified because he did not spell out his middle name or because he abbreviated a word on the application.
And if he manages to fill out an application he is given a test. The registrar is the sole judge of whether he passes this test. He may be asked to recite the entire Constitution, or explain the most complex provisions of State law. And even a college degree cannot be used to prove that he can read and write.
For the fact is that the only way to pass these barriers is to show a white skin.Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
“The American Promise,” speech to a Joint Session of Congress [11:51] (1965-03-15)
(Source)
Experience has clearly shown that the existing process of law cannot overcome systematic and ingenious discrimination. No law that we now have on the books — and I have helped to put three of them there — can ensure the right to vote when local officials are determined to deny it.
In such a case our duty must be clear to all of us. The Constitution says that no person shall be kept from voting because of his race or his color. We have all sworn an oath before God to support and to defend that Constitution. We must now act in obedience to that oath.Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
“The American Promise,” speech to a Joint Session of Congress [14:20] (1965-03-15)
(Source)
My first job after college was as a teacher in Cotulla, Texas, in a small Mexican-American school. Few of them could speak English, and I couldn’t speak much Spanish. My students were poor and they often came to class without breakfast, hungry. They knew even in their youth the pain of prejudice. They never seemed to know why people disliked them. But they knew it was so, because I saw it in their eyes. I often walked home late in the afternoon, after the classes were finished, wishing there was more that I could do. But all I knew was to teach them the little that I knew, hoping that it might help them against the hardships that lay ahead.
Somehow you never forget what poverty and hatred can do when you see its scars on the hopeful face of a young child.Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
“The American Promise,” speech to a Joint Session of Congress [40:55] (1965-03-15)
(Source)
This is the richest and most powerful country which ever occupied the globe. The might of past empires is little compared to ours. But I do not want to be the President who built empires, or sought grandeur, or extended dominion.
I want to be the President who educated young children to the wonders of their world.
I want to be the President who helped to feed the hungry and to prepare them to be taxpayers instead of tax-eaters.
I want to be the President who helped the poor to find their own way and who protected the right of every citizen to vote in every election.
I want to be the President who helped to end hatred among his fellow men and who promoted love among the people of all races and all regions and all parties.
I want to be the President who helped to end war among the brothers of this earth.Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
“The American Promise,” speech to a Joint Session of Congress [43:30] (1965-03-15)
(Source)
Every child must be encouraged to get as much education as he has the ability to take. We want this not only for his sake — but for the nation’s sake. Nothing matters more to the future of our country: not military preparedness — for armed might is worthless if we lack the brain power to build a world of peace; not our productive economy — for we cannot sustain growth without trained manpower; not our democratic system of government — for freedom is fragile if citizens are ignorant.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
“Toward Full Educational Opportunity,” speech to Congress (1965-01-12)
(Source)
I’d rather give my life than be afraid to give it.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
(Attributed (1963))
(Source)
Recounted about Johnson, when he (among other dignitaries) rejected advice from the Secret Service not to march publicly in John F. Kennedy's funeral procession (1963-11-25), in the face of various warnings of further violence or assassination attempts.
According to William Manchester in his extensive The Death of a President, Book 2, ch. 10 (1967), Johnson was actually speaking to his military aide, Col. William Jackson, and said,
You damned bastards are trying to take over. If I listen to you, I'll be led to stupid, indecent decisions. I'm going to walk.
This reaction may have been in part due to a previous episode in the book; after the leaving Parkland Hospital in Dallas to head for a flight to the White House, Johnson had been unceremoniously stuffed into one car by his lead Secret Service agent, forced to crouch below the level of the window, and his wife put in the following car as a decoy for other potential assassins.
The best way to kill a new idea is to put it in an old-line agency.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
(Attributed (1964))
(Source)
On assigning his War on Poverty programs to a new office (the Office of Economic Opportunity), reporting directly to the White House, rather than spreading it through existing federal programs and departments like Labor; Agriculture; or Health, Education, and Welfare.
Quoted in Rowland Evans, Jr., and Robert Novak, Lyndon B. Johnson: The Exercise of Power, ch. 19 "The Great Society" (1966).
If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is doing the thinking.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
(Attributed (c. 1964))
You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
(Attributed)
Widely attributed to Johnson, and in keeping with his reputation as a wily legislator, but no actual source found.
People don’t support you because they like you. You can count on a person’s support only when you do something for him or something to him.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
(Attributed)
(Source)
On support from Congress. An "embittered" comment made to Richard Nixon after Johnson had left the Presidency. Quoted in Richard Nixon, In the Arena: A Memoir of Victory, Defeat, and Renewal, ch. 21 (1990).
If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: “President Can’t Swim.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
(Attributed)
Frequently attributed to Johnson, usually referencing the last year or two of his presidency, when public opinion turned against him over Vietnam. I am unable to find any actual citable source.
You aren’t learning anything when you’re talking.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
(Attributed)
(Source)
Sometimes given as "You ain't learning anything when you're talking."
Reported, not as a quote, but as a sign on his wall while a US Senator, in Leslie Carpenter, "A Man of Complexity," Boston Herald (1963-12-01), read into the Congressional Record, House of Representatives (1963-12-03) by House Speaker John W. McCormack (D-RI).
Don’t spit in the soup. We’ve all got to eat.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
(Attributed)
A favorite political comment of Johnson's, going back at least as far as when he was US Senate majority leader. It's sometimes labeled as an old adage from Texas politics.
The core metaphor of "spitting in the soup" (ruining/sabotaging something) long predates Johnson; the phrase's application to politics ("don't make things so toxic or failed that you hurt your colleagues and the political institution itself") seems more applicable than ever.
The connection to Johnson seems to have solidified with its inclusion in Jack Shepherd, Christopher Wren, eds., Quotations from Chairman LBJ, Epigraph (1968).
As a verbal comment, and given folk wanting to elicit (or mock) Johnson's Texas accent, variants include "we all got to eat," "we've all gotta eat," etc.
Son, in politics you’ve got to learn that overnight chicken shit can turn to chicken salad.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
(Attributed)
(Source)
Johnson had once remarked in private to reporters about a speech by Richard Nixon: "Boys, I may not know much, but I know chicken shit from chicken salad." But in 1958, Nixon as Vice President toured South America, and stood up to an angry mob in Caracas, Venezuela. Nixon was celebrated when he returned to the US, including by Johnson, who was Democratic Senate Majority Leader.
When asked by a reporter about that turn-about, Johnson gave the above quotation, quoted in Gary Wills, "Hurrah for Politicians," Harper's Magazine (1975-09).
LBJ apparently liked the parallel construction, using it on other occasions. When George H. W. Bush asked Johnson whether he should stay in his powerful position in the House, or run for Senate, Johnson told him, "The difference between the Senate the House is like the difference between chicken salad and chicken shit."
John F. Kennedy was the victim of the hate that was a part of our country. It is a disease that occupies the minds of the few but brings danger to the many.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Address, Mitchell Field, New York (1964-05-09)
Dedication of JFK Cultural Center.
You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: “Now, you are free to go where you want, do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please.” You do not take a man who for years has been hobbled by chains, liberate him, bring him to the starting line of a race, saying, “You are free to compete with all the others,” and still justly believe you have been completely fair. Thus it is not enough just to open the gates of opportunity. All our citizens must have the ability to walk through those gates.
This is the next and the more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Commencement Address, Howard University (1965-06-04)
(Source)
On Affirmative Action.
We live amid falling taboos. In our crowded little hour of history we have seen how the prejudice of religion no longer can bar the way to the White House. Some of you may live to see the day when the prejudice of sex no longer places the Presidency beyond the reach of a greatly gifted American lady. Long before them, I hope you will see a woman member of the Supreme Court of the United States. In Congress and in our State Legislatures we need more women to bring their sensitive experience to the shaping of our decisions.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Commencement Address, National Cathedral School for Girls, Washington (1962-06-05)
(Source)
Speaking on the occasion of his daughter, Linda Bird Johnson, graduating. Entered into the Congressional Record on 6 June. (He would similarly speak there at the graduation of his other daughter, Luci Baines Johnson (1965-06-01)).
If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Comment (1960)
(Source)
Discussing racist graffiti in Tennessee, seen earlier in the day. Recalled in Bill Moyers, "What a Real President Was Like," Washington Post (1988-11-13).
More discussion here: Did Lyndon B. Johnson Say This About The 'Lowest White Man' and 'Best Colored Man'? | Snopes.com.
No member of our generation who wasn’t a Communist or a dropout in the thirties is worth a damn.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Comment about wealthy campaign donors (1960)
(Source)
Comment made to friends and reporters while flying back from a campaign event in Binghamton, New York. Quoted in David Halberstam, The Best and the Brightest, ch. 20 (1972)
There is but one way for a president to deal with Congress, and that is continuously, incessantly, and without interruption. If it is really going to work, the relationship has got to be almost incestuous. He’s got to know them better than they know themselves. And then, on the basis of this knowledge, he’s got to build a system that stretches from the cradle to the grave, from the moment a bill is introduced to the moment it is officially enrolled as the law of the land.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Comment to Doris Kearns Goodwin
(Source)
Quoted in Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, ch. 8 "The Great Society" (1976). Kearns was an intern and staff member in the Johnson White House, and worked with him on his memoirs.
I knew from the start that I was bound to be crucified either way I moved. If I left the woman I really loved — the Great Society — in order to get involved with that bitch of a war on the other side of the world, then I would lose everything at home. All my programs. All my hopes to feed the hungry and shelter the homeless. All my dreams to provide education and medical care to the browns and the blacks and the lame and the poor. But if I left that war and let the Communists take over South Vietnam, then I would be seen as a coward and my nation would be seen as an appeaser and we would find it impossible to accomplish anything for anybody anywhere on the entire globe.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Comment to Doris Kearns Goodwin (1970)
(Source)
Quoted in Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, ch. 9 "Vietnam" (1976). Kearns was an intern and staff member in the Johnson White House, and worked with him on his memoirs.
But now Nixon has come along and everything I’ve worked for is ruined. There’s a story in the paper every day about him slashing another one of my Great Society programs. I can just see him waking up in the morning, making that victory sign of his and deciding which program to kill. It’s a terrible thing for me to sit by and watch someone else starve my Great Society to death. She’s getting thinner and thinner and uglier and uglier all the time; now her bones are beginning to stick out and her wrinkles are beginning to show. Soon she’ll be so ugly that the American people will refuse to look at her; they’ll stick her in a closet to hide her away and there she’ll die. And when she dies, I, too, will die.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Comment to Doris Kearns Goodwin (1971)
(Source)
Quoted in Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, ch. 10 "Things Go Wrong" (1976). Kearns was an intern and staff member in the Johnson White House, and worked with him on his memoirs.
That’s just the trouble, Sam Houston — it’s always my move. And damnit, I sometimes can’t tell whether I’m making the right move or not. Now take this Vietnam mess. How in the hell can anyone know for sure what’s right and what’s wrong, Sam? I got some of the finest brains in this country — people like Dean Rusk, Walt Rostow, and Dean Acheson — making some strong and convincing arguments for us to stay in there and not pull out. Then I’ve got some people like George Ball and Fulbright — also intelligent men whose motives I can’t rightly distrust — who keep telling me we’ve got to de-escalate or run the risk of a total war. And, Sam, I’ve got to listen to both sides. […] I’ve just got to choose between my opposing experts. No way of avoiding it. But I sure as hell wish I could really know what’s right.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Comment to Sam Houston Johnson (1968-02)
(Source)
Recalled in Sam Houston Johnson, My Brother Lyndon, ch. 1 (1969).
Whatever the laws may provide, however lofty may be their sentiments, a man without a vote is a man without protection; he is virtually helpless.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Comments, U.S. Senate (1960-03-10)
(Source)
As Senate Majority Leader.
The only basis for fearing the votes of men is to fear those men themselves. To deny the right to vote is to increase those fears.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Comments, U.S. Senate (1960-03-10)
(Source)
As Senate Majority Leader.
I pray that when historians write the story of this time in our lives, that it may be recorded that this President tried, tried to lead his Nation, tried to lead his Nation with justice and with compassion and with courage — and there was faith and there was firmness in his heart. May it further be written that the people of the United States cast out their doubts, took great pride in their achievements, and bravely made of this land and this world a brighter, happier place for all mankind. This is our choice. This is our decision. Let us all be greatly determined that this society shall survive and this society shall succeed. And what it should be will be for all time to come.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Convocation speech, Brown University (1964-09-28)
(Source)
Down with the debunking biographer. It now seems to be quite a thing to pull down the mighty from their seats and roll them in the mire. This practice deserves pronounced condemnation. Hero worship is a tremendous force in uplifting and strengthening. Humanity, let us have our heroes. Let us continue to believe that some have been truly great; that it lies within human ability to overcome temptations and trials; that it is sublime to suffer and be strong. Petty biographers with inferior souls and jealous hearts would rob us of these happy privileges. Sensationalism is alright for yellow journalism, but in biography we wish to see our famous men and women as they were and feel the power of the strength and beauty of their lives. Down with the debunking biographer.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Editorial, Southwest Texas State Teachers College College Star, San Marcos (1929-07-17)
Quoted, in parts, in William C. Pool, Emmie Craddock, David Eugene Conrad, Lyndon Baines Johnson: The Formative Years, ch. 6 (1965) and Doris Kearns Goodwin, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream, ch. 2 (1976).
It is part of the price of leadership of this great and free nation to be the target of clever satirists. You have given the gift of laughter to our people. May we never grow so somber or self-important that we fail to appreciate the humor in our lives.
We learned from Hitler at Munich that success only feeds the appetite of aggression.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Press conference (1965-07-28)
Defending his decision to to not withdraw US troops from Vietnam.
We believe very strongly on preserving the right to differ in this country, and the right to dissent; and if I have done a good job of anything since I’ve been president, it’s to ensure that there are plenty of dissenters.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Press Conference (1967-11-17)
(Source)
Video:
There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very few that we can solve by ourselves.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Press conference, Johnson City, Texas (1964-11-28)
Did you ever think that making a speech on economics is a lot like pissin’ down your leg? It seems hot to you, but it never does to anyone else.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Private comment to John Kenneth Galbraith (mid-1960s)
(Source)
Quoted in Galbraith, Name-Dropping, ch. 11 (1999).
The presidency has made every man who occupied it, no matter how small, bigger than he was; and no matter how big, not big enough for its demands.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Proclamation 3489, “Commemoration of the Beginnings of the Office of the Presidency of the United States” (1964-04-30)
(Source)
On the 175th anniversary of George Washington taking the first oath of office as President.
It’s probably better to have him inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent pissing in.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Quoted in David Halberstam, book review, New York Times (1971-10-31)
(Source)
Review of the just-published Lyndon Johnson, Vantage Point: Perspectives of the Presidency 1963-1969, regarding the difficulty for him to fire FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover. Halberstam notes this as a Johnson quotation not found in the book, complaining that it's far too sanitized a retelling of Johnson's presidency. This is generally accepted as the earliest printed mention of the quotation.
Every President wants to do right.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Quoted in George Christian, The President Steps Down, ch. 1, sec. 3 (1970).
(Source)
Christian, who was Johnson's press secretary, says this was a frequent comment by Johnson, who would then go on to defend previous Administrations, Democratic and Republican, from the worst accusations of their then-detractors.
I once told Nixon that the Presidency is like being a jackass caught in a hail storm. You’ve got to just stand there and take it.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Quoted in Leo Janos, “The Last Days of the President: LBJ in Retirement,” Atlantic Monthly (1973-07)
(Source)
There are no favorites in my office. I treat them all with the same general inconsideration.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Quoted in Leslie Carpenter, “Whip from Texas,” Collier’s (1951-02-17)
(Source)
When asked, as a freshman US Senator, about favoritism among his staff.
While you’re saving your face, you’re losing your ass.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Quoted in Philip Geyelin, Lyndon B. Johnson and the World, ch. 6 (1966)
(Source)
Geyelin said the phrase came up during "an august gathering of his most distinguished advisers when the question arose whether to honor an apparent US commitment to a proposition which Congress seemed unlikely to accept. Face-saving, the President observed, was not his major purpose in life," followed by the quote.
One lesson you better learn if you want to be in politics is that you never go out on a golf course and beat the President.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Remark to Larry O’Brien III (1964)
(Source)
On the occasion of O'Brien beating Johnson by one stroke on a nine-hole golf outing. Noted by his father in his book, No Final Victories: A Life in Politics, ch. 8 "LBJ" (1974).
See Gracian.
I taught school in the early days of my manhood and I think I know something about mothers. There is a thread of aspiration that runs strong in them. It is the fiber that has formed the most unselfish creatures who inhabit this earth. They want three things only; for their children to be fed, to be healthy, and to make the most of themselves.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1963-07-09), Washington, D.C., Women’s Meeting
I have been unable to find a source for this quotation.
The greatest of human problems, and the greatest of our common tasks, is to keep the peace and to save the future. All that we have built in the wealth of nations, and all that we plan to do toward a better life for all, will be in vain if our feet should slip, or our vision falter, and our hopes ended in another worldwide war. If there is one commitment more than any other that I would like to leave with you today, it is my unswerving commitment to the keeping and to the strengthening of the peace. Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1963-12-17), United Nations General Assembly
(Source)
John Kennedy had used the same "journey" phrase from Lao-tzu early that year, before his assassination.
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. They are both more or less what the law declares them: lawbreakers, destroyers of constitutional rights and liberties, and ultimately destroyers of a free America.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech (1965-08-20), White House Conference on Equal Employment Opportunity, Washington, DC.
(Source)
Discussing the Watts Riots in Los Angeles (11-16 August).
All of us realize that war requires action. What is sometimes harder for us to realize is that peace and neutrality also require action.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Armistice Day, Brenham, Texas (1939-11-11)
Whether we are New Dealer, Old Dealer, Liberty Leaguer or Red, whether we agree or not, we still have the right to think and speak how we feel.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Chamber of Commerce Barbeque, Smithville, Texas (1939-09-15)
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 don’t like to say this and wish I didn’t have to add these words to make it clear but I will — regardless of color, creed, ancestry, sex or age.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Civil Rights symposium, LBJ Library, Austin, Texas (1972-12-12)
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(Source (Video)). Johnson's last public speech.
We can draw lessons from the past, but we cannot live in it.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Consumer Advisory Council, Washington, DC (1963-12-13)
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This Administration has declared unconditional war on poverty and I have come here this morning to ask all of you to enlist as volunteers. Members of all parties are welcome to our tent. Members of all races ought to be there. Members of all religions should come and help us now to strike the hammer of truth against the anvil of public opinion again and again until the ears of this Nation are open, until the hearts of this Nation are touched, and until the conscience of America is awakened.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Convention of Amalgamated Clothing Workers, New York (1964-05-09)
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In the crisis of this hour — as in all others that we have faced since our Nation began — there are plenty of recommendations on how to get out of trouble cheaply and fast. Most of them in the last analysis really come down to this: Deny your responsibilities.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Democratic Party Dinner, Washington, DC (1967-10-07)
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Sometimes paraphrased "There are plenty of recommendations on how to get out of trouble cheaply and fast. Most of them come down to this: Deny your responsibility."
I want to make a policy statement. I am unabashedly in favor of women.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Eleanor Roosevelt Award to Anna Kross (1964-03-04)
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Preceding announcing his appointment of ten women to top administration posts. He further commented, after listing them:
This should, with the announcements that have preceded this one, and the ones that will follow this one, serve notice that this administration is not running a stag party.
I pray we are still a young and courageous Nation; that we have not grown so old and fat and 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 (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, House of Representatives (1947-05-07)
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Speaking on spending in support of the Truman Doctrine, supporting countries threatened by the Soviet Union. Recorded in the Congressional Record, Vol. 93, Part 4, for this date.
I am persuaded that the people of the world have no grievances, one against the other. The hopes and desires of a man who tills the soil are about the same whether he lives on the banks of the Colorado or on the banks of the Danube.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, House of Representatives (1947-05-07)
(Source)
As part of an argument that the increasing tension between the Soviet Union and the US was over ideology and government actions, not between peoples.
Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the House, Members of the Senate, my fellow Americans:
All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Joint Session of Congress (1963-11-27)
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Five days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men’s skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact. To the extent that the Proclamation of Emancipation is not fulfilled in fact, to that extent we shall have fallen short of assuring freedom to the free.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Memorial Day, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (1963-05-30)
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For as the problem of civil rights has grown in urgency it has also grown in complexity. We must open the doors of opportunity. But we must also equip our people to walk through those doors.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, National Urban League, New York (1964-12-10)
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We hope that the world will not narrow into a neighborhood before it has broadened into a brotherhood.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Pageant of Peace Ceremonies, Washington, DC (1963-12-17)
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Johnson used this phrase many times in the early '60s to refer to how, as the world "shrank" through advances in travel (including for weapons), it had not resolved the ongoing problems within humanity, only brought them closer. Other examples:
We live in a world which has narrowed into a neighborhood before it broadened into a brotherhood.
[Reported (1961-08-01)]
The world has narrowed to a neighborhood before it has broadened to brotherhood.
[Speech, New York City (1963-12-17)]
See also King (1954).
We who hold public office are enjoined by our Constitution against enacting laws to tell the people when or where or how to pray.
All our experience and all our knowledge proves that injunction is good. for, if government could ordain the people’s prayers, government could also ordain its own worship — and that must never be.
The separation of church and state has served our freedom well because men of state have not separated themselves from church and faith and prayer.Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Presidential Prayer Breakfast (1964-02-05)
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This was at the 12th Annual Presidential Prayer Breakfast.
In the Proceedings of the Illinois State AFL-CIO Convention (1968), there is (a) a reference to a note that the state president of the AFL/CIO, Reuben G. Soderstrom, attending the 16th such Prayer Breakfast, and then (b) a passage on the next page "U. S. President Lyndon B. Johnson's statement to a tremendous audience contained the following comment:"
Our Constitution separates church and state. We know that separation is a source of our system's strength, but the conscience of our nation does not call for separation between men of state and faith in the Supreme Being.
Johnson does not appear to have included this text in his speech at the 16th Presidential Prayer Breakfast, nor does he appear to have gone to the 1968 Illinois AFL/CIO convention. Is this an odd paraphrase of the comments from four years earlier? Did Johnson speak the above in another venue that was also quoted in the Illinois AFL/CIO Convention proceedings? Is this paraphrase actually what he said in 1964, regardless of the written record of his comments?
While that shorter quote, or further paraphrases of it, are easy to find in quotation collections online, I can find no citation associated with it.
Presidents quickly realize that while a single act might destroy the world they live in, no one single decision can make life suddenly better or can turn history around for the good.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Signing a Bill Extending the Peace Corps Act, Georgetown University (1966-09-13)
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Broader context:
To hunger for use, and to go unused, is the worst hunger of all. [...] It is true that few men have the power by a single act of theirs or in a single lifetime to shape history for themselves. Presidents, for example, quickly realize that while a single act might destroy the world they live in, no one single decision can make life suddenly better or can turn history around all for the good. But Presidents do know that a nation is the sum total of what we all do together; that the deeds and desires of each citizen fashion our character and shape our world -- just as one tiny drop of water after another will ultimately make a mighty river.
One hundred and eighty-eight years ago this week a small band of valiant men began a long struggle for freedom. They pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor not only to found a nation, but to forge an ideal of freedom — not only for political independence, but for personal liberty — not only to eliminate foreign rule, but to establish the rule of justice in the affairs of men. That struggle was a turning point in our history. Today in far corners of distant continents, the ideals of those American patriots still shape the struggles of men who hunger for freedom. This is a proud triumph. Yet those who founded our country knew that freedom would be secure only if each generation fought to renew and enlarge its meaning.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (1964-07-02)
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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 (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Signing of the Voting Rights Act (1965-08-06)
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The central fact of American civilization — one so hard for others to understand — is that freedom and justice and the dignity of man are not just words to us. We believe in them. Under all the growth and the tumult and abundance, we believe. And so, as long as some among us are oppressed — and we are part of that oppression — it must blunt our faith and sap the strength of our high purpose.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, Signing of the Voting Rights Act (1965-08-06)
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We have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1964-05-22)
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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.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Speech, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1964-05-22)
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This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
State of the Union address (1964-01-08)
War is always the same. It is young men dying in the fullness of their promise. It is trying to kill a man that you do not know enough to hate. Therefore, to know war, is to know that there is still madness in the world.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
State of the Union address (1966-01-12)
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I have learned that only two things are necessary to keep one’s wife happy. First, let her think she’s having her way. And second, let her have it.
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908-1973) American politician, educator, US President (1963-69)
Toast, State Dinner for Lord Snowdon and Princess Margaret (1965-11-17)
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