“Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There's nothing to do but to stand there and take it.”
History
“This administration here and now declares unconditional war on poverty.”
WarAll Quotes by Lyndon B. Johnson
“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.”
Future“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.”
Strength“I want to make a policy statement. I am unabashedly in favor of women.”
Women“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.”
Education“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.”
Success“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.”
Faith“We have the opportunity to move not only toward the rich society and the powerful society, but upward to the Great Society.”
Society“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.”
Home“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.”
Faith“If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: 'President Can't Swim.'”
History“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.”
History“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.”
Communication“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.”
Marriage“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.”
Government“You aren't learning anything when you're talking.”
Learning“The Russians feared Ike. They didn't fear me.”
Fear“This is not Johnson's war. This is America's war. If I drop dead tomorrow, this war will still be with you.”
War“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.”
Home“The CIA is made up of boys whose families sent them to Princeton but wouldn't let them into the family brokerage business.”
Business