Lyndon B. Johnson Quotes

Powerful Lyndon B. Johnson for Daily Growth

About Lyndon B. Johnson

Lyndon Baines Johnson, born on August 27, 1908, in Stonewall, Texas, served as the 36th President of the United States from 1963 to 1969. Known for his strong leadership style and legislative achievements, Johnson's life was deeply influenced by his upbringing in a small Texas town and his early experiences in politics. Raised on a farm, Johnson developed a keen understanding of the struggles faced by rural America. He attended Southwest Texas State Teachers College (now Texas State University) but left without earning a degree to pursue a career in politics. His political journey began in 1931 when he was elected county clerk and later as a New Deal representative. Johnson's political career took off under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration, where he served various roles, including Director of the National Youth Administration and United States Senator from Texas. In 1955, Johnson became the Senate Majority Leader, a position that allowed him to significantly influence key legislative acts. In 1960, Johnson was selected as John F. Kennedy's running mate, and together they won the presidential election. Upon Kennedy's assassination in 1963, Johnson assumed the presidency. His tenure was marked by significant domestic policies, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as well as the War on Poverty through his Great Society initiative. Johnson's foreign policy, however, is often associated with the escalation of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. His decision to expand the war led to widespread protest and growing disillusionment among American people. Despite this, Johnson remains a controversial yet influential figure in U.S. history for his ambitious domestic reforms and significant impact on civil rights legislation. He chose not to seek re-election in 1968 and retired to his Texas ranch. Lyndon B. Johnson passed away on January 22, 1973.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"The time to take council of your fears is before you face the lion. Love is a secure and certain knowledge of being loved."

This quote by Lyndon B. Johnson suggests that one should prepare oneself mentally before facing challenges or difficult situations, similar to preparing before encountering a lion. The "lion" can symbolize any obstacle or adversity. The act of taking counsel (seeking advice) of fears means understanding and acknowledging one's apprehensions before they become overwhelming. On the other hand, "love is a secure and certain knowledge of being loved," indicates that having a strong foundation of love in one's life can provide confidence, certainty, and peace during challenging times. Love not only refers to romantic love but also encompasses familial, platonic, self-love, and the love shared among friends or community. This quote underscores the importance of emotional preparation and personal connections when facing adversity.

"The greatest contribution we can make to our country and the world is to raise up children who will be good citizens."

This quote highlights a fundamental belief that investing in our youth, through nurturing them into responsible and active citizens, is of paramount importance for both our nation and the global community. It emphasizes that by cultivating good character, knowledge, empathy, and civic responsibility among future generations, we are creating individuals who can contribute positively to society, make wise decisions, and foster progress in a sustainable manner. Essentially, it's saying that education and character development are vital tools for shaping a prosperous, harmonious, and forward-looking world.

"We are not bound to win, but we are bound to be true. We are not going to win every time, but we are going to give ourselves the best chance by being true to the best in us."

This quote emphasizes the importance of integrity and honesty over the pursuit of victory or success. In other words, it suggests that while outcomes may not always be favorable, one should strive to act authentically and honorably - aligning actions with one's best qualities - in order to maximize opportunities for positive outcomes. It's about upholding moral principles as a means of increasing the chances of success, rather than sacrificing ethics for immediate gain.

"The first quality of an effective leader is integrity."

This quote emphasizes that a fundamental aspect of an effective leader is having integrity, which refers to adhering to strong moral principles and values consistently, and acting honestly and ethically in all circumstances. A leader with integrity builds trust among followers by demonstrating consistency between words and actions, fostering transparency, and promoting accountability within the group or organization.

"Freedom is not enough. You must have the opportunity to use your freedom."

This quote by Lyndon B. Johnson highlights that while freedom is an essential fundamental right, it's not sufficient on its own. To truly live a fulfilled life, one needs the opportunities to utilize their freedom - whether that be through education, employment, or other means. The pursuit of happiness often requires resources and equal access to opportunities for personal growth and development.

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

Society, Move, Toward, Upward

To conclude that women are unfitted to the task of our historic society seems to me the equivalent of closing male eyes to female facts.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Equivalent, Conclude, Our, Historic

We have talked long enough in this country about equal rights. It is time now to write the next chapter - and to write it in the books of law.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Equality, Country, Next, Chapter

What convinces is conviction. Believe in the argument you're advancing. If you don't you're as good as dead. The other person will sense that something isn't there, and no chain of reasoning, no matter how logical or elegant or brilliant, will win your case for you.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Dead, Reasoning, Other, Argument

Our purpose in Vietnam is to prevent the success of aggression. It is not conquest, it is not empire, it is not foreign bases, it is not domination. It is, simply put, just to prevent the forceful conquest of South Vietnam by North Vietnam.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Domination, Forceful, South

Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Positive, Yesterday, Ours, Win Or Lose

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

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Same, Fart, Same Time, Ford

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

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Journey, Peace, Must, Taken

Whoever won't fight when the President calls him, deserves to be kicked back in his hole and kept there.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Back, Kept, Deserves, Kicked

We are not about to send American boys 9 or 10 thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Doing, Away, About, Asian

A man can take a little bourbon without getting drunk, but if you hold his mouth open and pour in a quart, he's going to get sick on it.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Sick, Going, Pour, Bourbon

We must open the doors of opportunity. But we must also equip our people to walk through those doors.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Opportunity, Through, Also, Our People

What we won when all of our people united must not be lost in suspicion and distrust and selfishness and politics. Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as president.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Politics, United, Another, Our People

Every man has a right to a Saturday night bath.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Night, Saturday, Every Man, Bath

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.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Space, Country, Other, Sovereignty

We have entered an age in which education is not just a luxury permitting some men an advantage over others. It has become a necessity without which a person is defenseless in this complex, industrialized society. We have truly entered the century of the educated man.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Education, Some, Without, Industrialized

I am a freeman, an American, a United States Senator, and a Democrat, in that order.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

I Am, United States, Senator, Freeman

I want to make a policy statement. I am unabashedly in favor of women.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

I Am, Want, Favor, Unabashedly

I feel like I just grabbed a big juicy worm with a right sharp hook in the middle of it.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Big, Middle, Worm, Sharp

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

Will, Benefits, Examine, Convey

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.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Blind, Fact, Emancipation, Unaware

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

Injustice, Other, Which, Vote

A man without a vote is man without protection.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Man, Protection, Without, Vote

Our numbers have increased in Vietnam because the aggression of others has increased in Vietnam. There is not, and there will not be, a mindless escalation.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Will, Increased, Escalation, Mindless

The noblest search is the search for excellence.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Experience, Search, Noblest

The CIA is made up of boys whose families sent them to Princeton but wouldn't let them into the family brokerage business.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Business, Made, Brokerage, Princeton

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

Destiny, United States, Guided

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.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Deal, Congress, Going, Interruption

Our most tragic error may have been our inability to establish a rapport and a confidence with the press and television with the communication media. I don't think the press has understood me.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Think, Been, Inability, Understood

The atomic bomb certainly is the most powerful of all weapons, but it is conclusively powerful and effective only in the hands of the nation which controls the sky.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Sky, Which, Certainly, Weapons

When the burdens of the presidency seem unusually heavy, I always remind myself it could be worse. I could be a mayor.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Mayor, Always, Could, Burdens

When I was a boy we didn't wake up with Vietnam and have Cyprus for lunch and the Congo for dinner.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Lunch, Wake Up, Wake, Congo

Jack was out kissing babies while I was out passing bills. Someone had to tend the store.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Someone, Tend, Kissing, Jack

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

Constitution, Shelter, Invention

I report to you that our country is challenged at home and abroad: that it is our will that is being tried and not our strength; our sense of purpose and not our ability to achieve a better America.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Strength, Country, Abroad, Report

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

Storm, Caught, Nixon, Hail

We did not choose to be the guardians of the gate, but there is no one else.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Choose, Gate, Else, Guardians

I don't believe I'll ever get credit for anything I do in foreign affairs, no matter how successful it is, because I didn't go to Harvard.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Believe, Matter, Go, Affairs

This administration here and now declares unconditional war on poverty.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Here, Unconditional, This Administration

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

- Lyndon B. Johnson

World, Brotherhood, Before, Neighborhood

I have learned that only two things are necessary to keep one's wife happy. First, let her think she's having her own way. And second, let her have it.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Marriage, Think, Having, I Have Learned

The last thing I wanted to do was to be a wartime President.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Last, Wanted, Thing, Wartime

I believe we can continue the Great Society while we fight in Vietnam.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Society, Continue, Vietnam, Great Society

It is important that the United States remain a two-party system. I'm a fellow who likes small parties and the Republican Party can't be too small to suit me.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Small, United, United States, Party

I believe the destiny of your generation - and your nation - is a rendezvous with excellence.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Destiny, Generation, Nation, I Believe

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

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Very, Solve, We Cannot, Together

Greater love hath no man than to attend the Episcopal Church with his wife.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Love, Attend, His, Episcopal

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

Think, New, Still, Dealer

You've got to work things out in the cloakroom, and when you've got them worked out, you can debate a little before you vote.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Work, Before, Them, Vote

Our society is illuminated by the spiritual insights of the Hebrew prophets. America and Israel have a common love of human freedom, and they have a common faith in a democratic way of life.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Love, Faith, Insights, Illuminated

I am concerned about the whole man. I am concerned about what the people, using their government as an instrument and a tool, can do toward building the whole man, which will mean a better society and a better world.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Concerned, Which, Using, Tool

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

Country, Disease, Part, Occupies

In our home there was always prayer - aloud, proud and unapologetic.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Home, Proud, Always, Aloud

Poverty must not be a bar to learning and learning must offer an escape from poverty.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Bar, Offer, Must, Escape

No member of our generation who wasn't a Communist or a dropout in the thirties is worth a damn.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Generation, Damn, Communist, Thirties

The fifth freedom is freedom from ignorance.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Freedom, Ignorance, Fifth

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

Small, Big, Made, Occupied

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

History, Water, Read, One Morning

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

Decision, Might, Quickly, Single Act

This is a moment that I deeply wish my parents could have lived to share. My father would have enjoyed what you have so generously said of me-and my mother would have believed it.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Father, Could, Generously, Believed

You might say that Lyndon Johnson is a cross between a Baptist preacher and a cowboy.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Cowboy, Might, Cross, Baptist

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

Middle, Worrying, Rejected, Waking

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

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Know, Task, Hardest, President

I'm the only president you've got.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

You, Only, Got, President

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

Politics, Learn, Want, President

Every President wants to do right.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Right, Wants, Every, President

Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There's nothing to do but to stand there and take it.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Politics, Like, Take, President

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

Strength, Nation, Conscience, Separation

If future generations are to remember us more with gratitude than sorrow, we must achieve more than just the miracles of technology. We must also leave them a glimpse of the world as it was created, not just as it looked when we got through with it.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Future, Through, Achieve, Miracles

Just like the Alamo, somebody damn well needed to go to their aid. Well, by God, I'm going to Viet Nam's aid!

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Like, Going, Needed, Aid

I am making a collection of the things my opponents have found me to be and, when this election is over, I am going to open a museum and put them on display.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Election, Over, Making, Museum

They call upon us to supply American boys to do the job that Asian boys should do.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

American, Call, Should, Asian

If the American people don't love me, their descendants will.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Love, Me, Will, Descendants

When things haven't gone well for you, call in a secretary or a staff man and chew him out. You will sleep better and they will appreciate the attention.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Him, Will, Staff, Chew

The fact that a man is a newspaper reporter is evidence of some flaw of character.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Character, Newspaper, Some, Reporter

The Russians feared Ike. They didn't fear me.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

History, Russians, Feared, Ike

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.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Cheaply, Deny, Plenty, Trouble

It may be, it just may be, that life as we know it with its humanity is more unique than many have thought.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Thought, More, May, Humanity

I seldom think of politics more than eighteen hours a day.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Politics, Think, Hours, Eighteen

When I was young, poverty was so common that we didn't know it had a name.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Name, Young, Common, Poverty

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

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Failure, Guns, Bombs, Rockets

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

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Problem, Doing, Right, Knowing

It is always a strain when people are being killed. I don't think anybody has held this job who hasn't felt personally responsible for those being killed.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Think, Always, Strain, Responsible

I will do my best. That is all I can do. I ask for your help - and God's.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Best, Help, Will, Ask

This is not Johnson's war. This is America's war. If I drop dead tomorrow, this war will still be with you.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Drop, Will, Still, Johnson

There are no favorites in my office. I treat them all with the same general inconsideration.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Treat, Same, General, Favorites

While you're saving your face, you're losing your ass.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Face, Your, Saving, Losing

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

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Learning, You, Talking, Anything

If two men agree on everything, you may be sure that one of them is doing the thinking.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Doing, May, Sure, Agree

Only two things are necessary to keep one's wife happy. One is to let her think she is having her own way, and the other is to let her have it.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Think, Other, Having, Wife

Education is not a problem. Education is an opportunity.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Education, Opportunity, Problem

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

- Lyndon B. Johnson

My Life, Give, Rather, Fear

Freedom is not enough.

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Enough, Freedom

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