Top 280 Lyndon B. Johnson Quotes (2025 Update)
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151. “The poor suffer twice at the rioter’s hands. First, his destructive fury scars their neighborhood; second, the atmosphere of accommodation and consent is changed to one of hostility and resentment.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

152. “If we become tow people-the suburban affluent and the urban poor, each filled with mistrust and fear of the other-then we shall effectively cripple each generation to come.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

153. “Victory is no longer a truth. It is only a word to describe who is left alive in the ruins.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

154. “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

155. “When the family collapses, it is the children that are usually damaged. When it happens on a massive scale, the community itself is crippled.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

156. “Men who have worked together to reach the stars are not likely to descend together into the depths of war and desolation.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

157. “I believe in the American tradition of separation of church and state which is expressed in the First Amendment to the Constitution. By my office – and by personal conviction – I am sworn to uphold that tradition.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

158. “Today our problem is not making miracles, but managing them.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

159. “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

160. “Our partnership has been built on four pillars The first pillar is peace. The second pillar is freedom. The third pillar is respect. The fourth pillar is cooperation.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

161. “You know, doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

162. “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.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

163. “I hear the headlines on the radio, see them on TV and read them in the paper. When I hear from the men out there, I sometimes don’t believe they are talking about the same situation.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

164. “In this age when there can be no losers in peace and no victors in war; we must recognize the obligation to match national strength with national restraint.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

165. “You never want to give a man a present when he’s feeling good. You want to do it when he’s down.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

166. “We preach the virtues of democracy abroad. We must practice its duties here at home. Voting is the first duty of democracy.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

167. “We can and should have an abundance of trails for walking, cycling, and horseback riding, in and close to our cities. In the backcountry we need to copy the great Appalachian Trail in all parts of America.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

168. “Law is the great civilizing machinery. It liberates the desire to build and subdues the desire to destroy.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

169. “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

170. “All that Hubert needs over there is a gal to answer the phone and a pencil with an eraser on it.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

171. “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.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

172. “If there is one word that describes our form of society in America, it may be the word-voluntary.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

173. “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

174. “When I was young, poverty was so common that we didn’t know it had a name.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

175. “The Russians feared Ike. They didn’t fear me.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

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

— Lyndon B. Johnson

177. “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

178. “If the American people don’t love me, their descendants will.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

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

— Lyndon B. Johnson

180. “Heck by the time a man scratches his behind, clears his throat, and tells me how smart he is, we’ve already wasted fifteen minutes.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

181. “In 1790, the nation which had fought a revolution against taxation without representation discovered that some of its citizens weren’t much happier about taxation with representation.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

182. “Extremism is the pursuit of the presidency is an unpardonable vice. Moderation in the affairs of the nation is the highest virtue.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

183. “So, I would appeal to my fellow Americans by saying, the only real road to progress for free people is through the process of law and that is the road that America will travel.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

184. “For the first time in our history it is possible to conquer poverty.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

185. “If you’re I politics and you can’t tell when you walk into a room who’s for you and who’s against you, then you’re in the wrong line of work.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

186. “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

187. “Let no one ever think for a moment that national debate means national division.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

188. “You know there is no one in the world I would rather sleep with than Yuki.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

189. “There is nothing that exasperates people more than a display of superior ability or brilliance in conversation. They seem pleased at the time, but their envy makes them curse the conversationalist in their heart.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

190. “As man draws nearer to the stars, why should he not also draw nearer to his neighbor?”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

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

— Lyndon B. Johnson

192. “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

193. “I believe, with abiding conviction, that this people-nurtured by their deep faith, tutored by their hard lessons, moved by their high aspirations-have the will to meet the trials that these times impose.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

194. “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

195. “The Secretary of Labor is in charge of finding you a job, the Secretary of the Treasury is in charge of taking half the money you make away from you, and the Attorney General is in charge of suing you for the other half.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

196. “We will not have served the water needs of Americans if we meet only the requirements of today’s population. A prudent nation must look ahead and plan for tomorrow.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

197. “It’s the price of leadership to do the thing you believe has to be done at the time it must be done.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

198. “Scarcely any law of our Redeemer is more openly transgressed, or more industriously evaded, than that by which he commands his followers to forgive injuries. Samuel.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

199. “In the Great Society, work shall be an outlet for mans interests and desires. Each individual shall have full opportunity to use his capacities in employment which satisfies personally and contributes generally to the quality of the Nations life.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson

200. “True poverty does not come from God.”

— Lyndon B. Johnson