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Lyndon B. Johnson
387 quotes
“Making a speech on economics is a lot like pissing down your leg. It seems hot to you, but it never does to anyone else.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Private comment, as quoted in Name-Dropping (1999) by John Kenneth Galbraith, p. 149.
“If the circumstances make it such that you can't fuck a man in the ass, then just peckerslap him. Better to let him know who's in charge than to let him get the keys to the car.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Private comment, found in White House Tapes: Eavesdropping on the President (2003) edited by John Prados.
“Eisenhower used to tell me that this place was a prison. I never felt freer.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "What a Real President Was Like: To Lyndon Johnson, the Great Society Meant Hope and Dignity", by Bill Moyers, The Washington Post (13 November 1988)
“I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it. 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) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "What a Real President Was Like: To Lyndon Johnson, the Great Society Meant Hope and Dignity", by Bill Moyers, The Washington Post (13 November 1988)
“As long as you are black, and you're gonna be black till the day you die, no one's gonna call you by your goddamn name! So no matter what you are called, nigger, you just let it roll off your back like water, and you’ll make it! Just pretend you're a goddamn piece of furniture!”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[[Gerald Ford|[Gerald] Ford]]'s economics are the worst thing that's happened to this country since pantyhose ruined finger-fucking.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Fuck (2005)
“This civil rights program about which you have heard so much is a farce and a sham; an effort to set up a police state in the guise of liberty. I am opposed to that program. I fought it in the Congress. It is the province of the state to run its own elections. I am opposed to the anti-lynching bill because the federal government has no business enacting a law against one kind of murder than another ... If a man can tell you who you must hire, he can tell you who not to employ. I have met this head on.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1948 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech in Austin, Texas (22 May 1948), as quoted in Quotations from Chairman LBJ (1968)
“I'm going to have to bring up the nigger bill again.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to a southern U.S. Senator upon the occasion of the Republicans re-introducing the Civil Right Act of 1957, according to LBJ's Special Counsel Harry McPherson. As quoted in
“Let's face it. Our ass is in a crack. We're gonna have to let this nigger bill pass.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to Senator John Stennis (D-MS) during debate on the Civil Rights Act of 1957. As quoted in
“Sam, why don't you all let this nigger bill pass?”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn (D-TX) regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1957. As quoted in
“These Negroes, they're getting pretty uppity these days and that's a problem for us since they've got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we've got to do something about this, we've got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference. For if we don't move at all, then their allies will line up against us and there'll be no way of stopping them, we'll lose the filibuster and there'll be no way of putting a brake on all sorts of wild legislation. It'll be Reconstruction all over again.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1957 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to Senator Richard Russell, Jr. (D-GA) regarding the Civil Rights Act of 1957. As quoted in Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream (1977), by Doris Kearns Goodwin, New York: New American Library, p. 155
“This is a sad time for all people. We have suffered a loss that cannot be weighed. For me, it is a deep, personal tragedy. I know the world shares the sorrow that Mrs. Kennedy and her family bear. I will do my best; that is all I can do. I ask for your help and God's.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1963 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: First official statement as President after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, televised live from Andrews Air Force Base (22 November 1963)
“I am so proud of our system of government, of our free enterprise, where our incentive system and our men who head our big industries are willing to get up at daylight and work until midnight to offer employment and create new jobs for people, where our men working there will try to get decent wages but will sit across the table and not act like cannibals, but will negotiate and reason things out together.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Transcript of Television and Radio Interview Conducted by Representatives of Major Broadcast Services.," (15 March 1964), online at The American Presidency Project by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley
“The purpose of protecting the life of our Nation and preserving the liberty of our citizens is to pursue the happiness of our people. Our success in that pursuit is the test of our success as a Nation.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Great Society (May 22, 1964). Archived from the original on January 10, 2021.
“Poverty must not be a bar to learning, and learning must offer an escape from poverty.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Great Society (May 22, 1964). Archived from the original on January 10, 2021.
“Fuck your parliament and your constitution. America is an elephant. Cyprus is a flea. Greece is a flea. If these two fleas continue itching the elephant, they may just get whacked good ... We pay a lot of good American dollars to the Greeks, Mr. Ambassador. If your Prime Minister gives me talk about democracy, parliament and constitution, he, his parliament and his constitution may not last long ...”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Comment to the Greek ambassador to Washington, Alexander Matsas, over the Cyprus issue in June 1964. As quoted in I Should Have Died (1977) by Philip Deane, pp. 113-114
“Well, I think we may have lost the south for your lifetime—and mine.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Comment to journalist and special assistant Bill Moyers, as quoted in Charles Kaiser, " 'We May Have Lost the South': What LBJ Really Said About Democrats in 1964", The Guardian, January 23, 2023
“Our government is united in its determination to take all necessary measures in support of freedom and in defense of peace in Southeast Asia.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Report on the Gulf of Tonkin Incident (4 August 1964)
“This has been a year without precedent in the history of relations between the Executive and the Legislative Branches of our Government. This session of Congress has enacted more major legislation, met more national needs, disposed of more national issues than any other session of this century or the last.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Congressional Quarterly 1964: Vol 20 Table of Contents, P.66 An assessment made by Johnson of the record of the 88th congress on August the 19th 1964.
“And I just want to tell you this — we're in favor of a lot of things and we're against mighty few.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Campaign statement (1964), as quoted in The Making of the President, 1964 (1966) by T. H. White, p. 413.
“There are no problems which we cannot solve together, and there are very few which any of us can settle by himself.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: President Johnson's thirty-fourth news conference was held on the front lawn at the LBJ Ranch, Johnson City, Tex., at 10:45 a.m. on Saturday, November 28, 1964. Source: Lyndon B. Johnson, The President's News Conference…
“I am going to build the kind of nation that President Roosevelt hoped for, President Truman worked for and President Kennedy died for.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1964 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Sunday Times (27 Dec 1964)
“Son, when I appoint a nigger to the court, I want everyone to know he's a nigger.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to an aide in 1965 regarding the appointment of Thurgood Marshall as associate justice of the Supreme Court. As quoted in
“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 individual’s 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.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Special message to the Congress on the nation's cities (March 2, 1965); reported in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965, book 1, p. 240
“We don't propose to sit here in our rocking chair with our hands folded and let the Communists set up any government in the Western Hemisphere.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks to the 10th National Legislative Conference, Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO (May 3, 1965); reported in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965, book 1,…
“We do not want an expanding struggle with consequences, that no one can perceive, nor will we bluster or bully or flaunt our power, but we will not surrender and we will not retreat, for behind our American pledge lies the determination and resources, I believe, of all of the American nation.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: News Conference (28 July 1965)
“I do not find it easy to send the flower of our youth, our finest young men, into battle.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: (28 July 1965)
“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.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1965 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks to the International Platform Association (August 3, 1965); reported in Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Lyndon B. Johnson, 1965, book 2, p. 822
“We know that most people's intentions are good. We don't question their motives; we've never said they're unpatriotic, although they say some pretty ugly things about us. And 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) first seen 1967 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Statement (17 November 1967), as quoted in Vietnam: A Television History (1983) "Homefront USA
“What did you expect? I don't know why we're so surprised. When you put your foot on a man's neck and hold him down for three hundred years, and then you let him up, what's he going to do? He's going to knock your block off.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Regarding rioting (1968), as quoted in Judgment days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King, Jr., and the laws that changed America (2005), by Nick Kotz, Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 417
“Make no mistake about it. I don't want a man in here to go back home thinking otherwise; we are going to win.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Remarks at a Meeting of the National Alliance of Businessmen (16 March 1968).
“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 (1908–1973) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From a speech on the state of the Middle East, September 10, 1968
“On this hallowed ground, heroic deeds were performed and eloquent words were spoken a century ago. We, the living, have not forgotten–and the world will never forget–the deeds or the words of Gettysburg. We honor them now as we join on this Memorial Day of 1963 in a prayer for permanent peace of the world and fulfillment of our hopes for universal freedom and justice.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We are called to honor our own words of reverent prayer with resolution in the deeds we must perform to preserve peace and the hope of freedom. We keep a vigil of peace around the world. Until the world knows no aggressors, until the arms of tyranny have been laid down, until freedom has risen up in every land, we shall maintain our vigil to make sure our sons who died on foreign fields shall not have died in vain.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As we maintain the vigil of peace, we must remember that justice is a vigil, too — a vigil we must keep in our own streets and schools and among the lives of all our people — so that those who died here on their native soil shall not have died in vain.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“One hundred years ago, the slave was freed. One hundred years later, the Negro remains in bondage to the color of his skin. The Negro today asks justice. We do not answer him — we do not answer those who lie beneath this soil — when we reply to the Negro by asking, "Patience.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It is empty to plead that the solution to the dilemmas of the present rests on the hands of the clock. The solution is in our hands. Unless we are willing to yield up our destiny of greatness among the civilizations of history, Americans — white and Negro together — must be about the business of resolving the challenge which confronts us now.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our nation found its soul in honor on these fields of Gettysburg one hundred years ago. We must not lose that soul in dishonor now on the fields of hate. To ask for patience from the Negro is to ask him to give more of what he has already given enough. But to fail to ask of him — and of all Americans — perseverance within the processes of a free and responsible society would be to fail to ask what the national interest requires of all its citizens.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The law cannot save those who deny it but neither can the law serve any who do not use it. The history of injustice and inequality is a history of disuse of the law. Law has not failed — and is not failing. We as a nation have failed ourselves by not trusting the law and by not using the law to gain sooner the ends of justice which law alone serves. If the white over-estimates what he has done for the Negro without the law, the Negro may under-estimate what he is doing and can do for himself with the law.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“If it is empty to ask Negro or white for patience, it is not empty — it is merely honest — to ask perseverance. Men may build barricades — and others may hurl themselves against those barricades — but what would happen at the barricades would yield no answers. The answers will only be wrought by our perseverance together. It is deceit to promise more as it would be cowardice to demand less.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Negro says, "Now." Others say, "Never." The voice of responsible Americans — the voice of those who died here and the great man who spoke here — their voices say, "Together." There is no other way.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“All I have I would have given gladly not to be standing here today. The greatest leader of our time has been struck down by the foulest deed of our time. Today John Fitzgerald Kennedy lives on in the immortal words and works that he left behind. He lives on in the mind and memories of mankind. He lives on in the hearts of his countrymen. No words are sad enough to express our sense of loss. No words are strong enough to express our determination to continue the forward thrust of America that he began.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Under John Kennedy's leadership, this Nation has demonstrated that it has the courage to seek peace, and it has the fortitude to risk war. We have proved that we are a good and reliable friend to those who seek peace and freedom. We have shown that we can also be a formidable foe to those who reject the path of peace and those who seek to impose upon us or our allies the yoke of tyranny.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We will serve all the Nation, not one section or one sector, or one group, but all Americans. These are the United States-a united people with a united purpose. Our American unity does not depend upon unanimity. We have differences; but now, as in the past, we can derive from those differences strength, not weakness, wisdom, not despair. Both as a people and a government, we can unite upon a program, a program which is wise and just, enlightened and constructive.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“From this chamber of representative government, let all the world know and none misunderstand that I rededicate this Government to the unswerving support of the United Nations, to the honorable and determined execution of our commitments to our allies, to the maintenance of military strength second to none, to the defense of the strength and the stability of the dollar, to the expansion of our foreign trade, to the reinforcement of our programs of mutual assistance and cooperation in Asia and Africa, and to our Alliance for Progress in this hemisphere.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“On the 20th day of January, in 1961, John F. Kennedy told his countrymen that our national work would not be finished "in the first thousand days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But," he said, "let us begin." Today, in this moment of new resolve, I would say to all my fellow Americans, let us continue.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“As one who has long served in both Houses of the Congress, I firmly believe in the independence and the integrity of the legislative branch. And I promise you that I shall always respect this. It is deep in the marrow of my bones. With equal firmness, I believe in the capacity and I believe in the ability of the Congress, despite the divisions of opinions which characterize our Nation, to act--to act wisely, to act vigorously, to act speedily when the need arises. The need is here. The need is now. I ask your help.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here in the Congress you can demonstrate effective legislative leadership by discharging the public business with clarity and dispatch, voting each important proposal up, or voting it down, but at least bringing it to a fair and a final vote. Let us carry forward the plans and programs of John Fitzgerald Kennedy--not because of our sorrow or sympathy, but because they are right. In his memory today, I especially ask all members of my own political faith, in this election year, to put your country ahead of your party, and to always debate principles; never debate personalities.”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“We must also lift by legislation the bars of discrimination against those who seek entry into our country, particularly those who have much needed skills and those joining their families. In establishing preferences, a nation that was built by the immigrants of all lands can ask those who now seek admission: "What can you do for our country?" But we should not be asking: "In what country were you born?”
Lyndon B. Johnson (1908–1973) said by 1973 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source