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Americans Have Always Built For The Future. That Is Why We Established Land Grant Colleges And Passed The Homestead Act To Open Our Western Lands More Than 100 Years Ago.

-Lyndon B. Johnson

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Americans Have Always Built

Lyndon B. Johnson

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Americans Have Always Built For The Future. That Is Why We Established Land Grant Colleges And Passed The Homestead Act To Open Our Western Lands More Than 100 Years Ago.

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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.

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.

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 Kentuckywhere 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. I Don't Do Much Promising. I Tell What My Goals Are And Then I Try To Wrap It Up And Put A Blue Ribbon On It And Get It Delivered. We Say Put The Coonskin On The Wall.

I Pray We Are Still A Young And Courageous Nation, That We Have Not Grown So Old And So Fat And So 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.

A Perpetual Conflict With Natural Desires Seems To Be The Lot Of Our Present State. In Youth We Require Something Of The Tardiness And Frigidity Of Age; And In Age We Must Labour To Recall The Fire And Impetuosity Of Youth; In Youth We Must Learn To Respect, And In Age To Enjoy.

Each Year More Than 100,000 High School Graduates, With Proved Ability, Do Not Enter College Because They Cannot Afford It. And If We Cannot Educate Today's Youth, What Will We Do In 1970 When Elementary Enrollment Will Be 5 Million Greater Than 1960? And High School Enrollment Will Rise By 5 Million. College Enrollment Will Increase By More Than 3 Million.

President Can't Swim.

If I Could Get One Message To You It Would Be This: The Future Of This Country And The Welfare Of The Free World Depends Upon Our Success In Space. There Is No Room In This Country For Any But A Fully Cooperative, Urgently Motivated All-out Effort Toward Space Leadership. No One Person, No One Company, No One Government Agency, Has A Monopoly On The Competence, The Missions, Or The Requirements For The Space Program.

Republicans Simply Don't Know How To Manage The Economy.

...in The Decline Of Life Shame And Grief Are Of Short Duration; Whether It Be That We Bear Easily What We Have Borne Long; Or That, Finding Ourselves In Age Less Regarded, We Less Regard Others; Or, That We Look With Slight Regard Upon Afflictions To Which We Know That The Hand Of Death Is About To Put An End.

Nothing So Challenges The American Spirit As Tackling The Biggest Job On Earth....americans Are Stimulated By The Big Job; The Panama Canal, Boulder Dam, Grand Coulee, Lower Colorado River Developments, The Tallest Building In The World, The Mightiest Battleship.

In My State, On The Basis Of The Separate But Equal Doctrine, We Have Made Enormous Strides Over The Years In The Education Of Both Races. Personally, I Think It Would Have Been Sounder Judgment To Allow That Progress To Continue Through The Process Of Natural Evolution. However, There Is No Point Crying About Spilt Milk.

I'll Have Those N**gers Voting Democratic For The Next 200 Years.

When The Family Collapses, It Is The Children That Are Usually Damaged. When It Happens On A Massive Scale, The Community Itself Is Crippled.

History May Well Record That We Served Liberty And Saved Freedom When We Undertook A Crash Program In The Field Of Education . . .. I Hope This Bill Is Only The Forerunner Of Better Things To Come.

This Administration Here And Now Declares Unconditional War On Poverty.

Unconditional Love

Air Pollution Is A Threat To Health, Especially Of Older Persons. It Contributes Significantly To The Rising Rates Of Chronic Respiratory Ailments. It Stains Our Cities And Towns With Ugliness, Soiling And Corroding Whatever It Touches. Its Damage Extends To Our Forests And Farmlands As Well. The Economic Toll For Our Neglect Amounts To Billions Of Dollars Each Year.

But If Future Generations Are To Remember Us More With Gratitude Than With Sorrow, We Must Achieve More Than Just The Miracles Of Technology. We Must Also Leave Them A Glimpse Of The World As God Really Made It, Not Just As It Looked When We Got Through With It.

A Nation That Fails To Plan Intelligently For The Development And Protection Of Its Precious Waters Will Be Condemned To Wither Because Of Its Shortsightedness. The Hard Lessons Of History Are Clear, Written On The Deserted Sands And Ruins Of Once Proud Civilizations.

Every Man Of Any Education Would Rather Be Called A Rascal, Than Accused Of Deficiency In The Graces.

The Thing I Would Like To Do Most Is To Find Somehow To Bring Peace To The World. It Has Eluded Me.

The Best Fertilizer For A Piece Of Land Is The Footprints Of Its Owner.

We Still Seek No Wider War.

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 Future Of Our Nation's Sake. Nothing Matters More To The Future Of Our Country: Not Our Military Preparedness - For Armed Might Is Worthless If We Lack The Brainpower To Build World 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.

Faith Builds, Cynicism Destroys.

Art Is A Nation's Most Precious Heritage. For It Is In Our Works Of Art That We Reveal To Ourselves And To Others The Inner Vision Which Guides Us As A Nation. And Where There Is No Vision, The People Perish.

We Cannot Have Government For All The People Until We First Make Certain It Is Government Of And By All The People.

In The Years Since Then, Those Four Freedoms - Freedom Of Speech, Freedom Of Worship, Freedom From Want, And Freedom From Fear - Have Stood As A Summary Of Our Aspirations For The American Republic And For The World.

Freedom Of Speech

It Is Happily And Kindly Provided That In Every Life There Are Certain Pauses, And Interruptions, Which Force Consideration Upon The Careless, And Seriousness Upon The Light, Points Of Time Where One Course Of Action Ends And Another Begins.

There Are Two Kinds Of Speeches: The Mother Hubbard Speech, Which, Like The Garment, Covers Everything But Touches Nothing, And The French Bathing Suit Speech, Which Covers Only The Essential Points.

Conservation Is Ethically Sound. It Is Rooted In Our Love Of The Land, Our Respect For The Rights Of Others, Our Devotion To The Rule Of Law.

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.

It Is A Truism That Education Is No Longer A Luxury. Education In This Day And Age Is A Necessity.

The Family Is The Corner Stone Of Our Society.

Free Speech, Free Press, Free Religion, The Right Of Free Assembly, Yes, The Right Of Petition... Well, They Are Still Radical Ideas.

The Experts Spent A Great Deal Of Time And Study Working Out A Formula Which Would Be Fair To Every State And Fair To Every County And Fair To Every Child, And Would Put The Education Dollar Where That Dollar Is Needed Most, Now.

The Land Flourished Because It Was Fed From So Many Sources--because It Was Nourished By So Many Cultures And Traditions And Peoples.

Extremism Is The Pursuit Of The Presidency Is An Unpardonable Vice. Moderation In The Affairs Of The Nation Is The Highest Virtue.

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.

No Nation In The World Has Had Greater Fortune Than Mine In Sharing A Continent With The People And The Nation Of Canada.

Never Miss An Opportunity To Say A Word Of Congratulation Upon Anyone's Achievement.

Congratulations

Let No One Ever Think For A Moment That National Debate Means National Division.

It (the Heart) Is Supposed In Popular Language, To Be The Seat Sometimes, Of Courage, Sometimes Of Affection, Sometimes Of Honesty, Or Baseness.

Sometimes Among Our More Sophisticated, Self-styled Intellectuals--and I Say Self-styled Advisedly; The Real Intellectual I Am Notsure Would Ever Feel This Way--some Of Them Are More Concerned With Appearance Than They Are With Achievement. They Are More Concerned With Style Then They Are With Mortar, Brick And Concrete. They Are More Concerned With Trivia And The Superficial Than They Are With The Things That Have Really Built America.

So Far Are We Generally From Thinking What We Often Say Of The Shortness Of Life, That At The Time When It Is Necessarily Shortest We Form Projects Which We Delay To Execute, Indulge Such Expectations As Nothing But Along Train Of Events Can Gratify, And Suffer Those Passions To Gain Upon Us Which Are Only Excusable In The Prime Of Life.

For The College Years We Will Provide Scholarships To High School Students Of The Greatest Promise And Greatest Need And Guarantee Low-interest Loans To Students Continuing Their College Studies.

America Has Not Always Been Kind To Its Artists And Scholars. Somehow The Scientists Always Seem To Get The Penthouse While The Arts And Humanities Get The Basement.

You Know, Doing What Is Right Is Easy. The Problem Is Knowing What Is Right.

It's The Price Of Leadership To Do The Thing You Believe Has To Be Done At The Time It Must Be Done.

The Russians Feared Ike. They Didn't Fear Me.

There Is Something More Important Than Any Ultimate Weapon. That Is The Ultimate Position-the Position Of Total Control Over Earth That Lies Somewhere Out In Space. That Is . . . The Distant Future, Though Not So Distant As We May Have Thought. Whoever Gains That Ultimate Position Gains Control, Total Control, Over The Earth, For The Purposes Of Tyranny Or For The Service Of Freedom

The Fifth Freedom Is Freedom From Ignorance.

If You Have A Mother-in-law With Only One Eye And She Has It In The Center Of Her Forehead, Don't Keep Her In The Living Room.

John Ain't Been Worth A Damn Since He Started Wearing $300 Suits.

American Politics

Democrats Legislate; Republicans Investigate.

This Nation, This Generation, In This Hour Has Man's First Chance To Build A Great Society, A Place Where The Meaning Of Man's Life Matches The Marvels Of Man's Labor.

One Hundred Years Ago, The Slave Was Freed. One Hundred Years Later, The Negro Remains In Bondage To The Color Of His Skin.

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.

Voting Is The First Duty Of Democracy.

For The Individual, Education Is The Path To Achievement And Fulfillment; For The Nation, It Is A Path To A Society That Is Not Only Free But Civilized; And For The World, It Is The Path To Peace - For It Is Education That Places Reason Over Force.

I Want Every Family In America To Have A Carpet On The Floor And A Picture On The Wall. After Bread, You've Got To Have A Picture On The Wall.

Way Back Last Summer I Asked Some Of The Most Outstanding Educational Minds In This Nation To Tackle This Problem. I Gave Them A Single Instruction: Find Out How We Can Best Invest Each Education Dollar So That It Will Do The Most Good. Your Support And The Support Of Every Leading Education Group Proves That They Did Their Job Better Than I Had Hoped, Because For The First Time We Have Succeeded In Finding Goals Which Unite Us Rather Than Divide Us.

For It Was Only After I Could Become President Of This Country That I Could Really See In All Its Hopeful And Troubling Implications Just How Much The Hopes Of Our Citizens And The Security Of Our Nation And The Real Strength Of Our Democracy Depended Upon The Learning And The Understanding Of Our People.

He That In The Latter Part Of His Life Too Strictly Inquires What He Has Done, Can Very Seldom Receive From His Own Heart Such An Account As Will Give Him Satisfaction.

Every Funeral May Justly Be Considered As A Summons To Prepare For That State Into Which It Shows Us That We Must Some Time Enter; And The Summons Is More Loud And Piercing As The Event Of Which It Warns Us Is At Less Distance. To Neglect At Any Time Preparation For Death Is To Sleep On Our Post At A Siege; But To Omit It In Old Age Is To Sleep At An Attack.

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.

Peace Does Not Come Just Because We Wish For It. Peace Must Be Fought For. It Must Be Built Stone By Stone.

It Is Not Uncommon For Those Who At Their First Entrance Into The World Were Distinguished For Attainments Or Abilities, To Disappoint The Hopes Which They Had Raised, And To End In Neglect And Obscurity That Life Which They Began In Honour. To The Long Catalogue Of The Inconveniences Of Old Age, Which Moral And Satirical Writers Have So Copiously Displayed, May Be Often Added The Loss Of Fame.

Law Is The Great Civilizing Machinery. It Liberates The Desire To Build And Subdues The Desire To Destroy.

We Of The United States Of America Consider Ourselves Blessed. We Have Much To Give Thanks For. But The Gift Of Providence That We Really Cherish Is That We Were Given As Our Neighbors On This Great, Wonderful Continent, The People And The Nation Of Canada.

While You're Saving Your Face, You're Losing Your Ass.

Of Course, I May Go Into A Strange Bedroom Every Now And Then That I Don't Want You To Write About, But Otherwise You Can Write Everything.

I Believe We Can Continue The Great Society While We Fight In Vietnam.

The Roman Empire Controlled The World Because It Could Build Roads . . . The British Empire Was Dominant Because It Had Ships. In The Air Age We Were Powerful Because We Had Airplaines. Now The Communists Have Established A Foothold In Outer Space.

As Man Draws Nearer To The Stars, Why Should He Not Also Draw Nearer To His Neighbor?

If Two Men Agree On Everything, You May Be Sure That One Of Them Is Doing The Thinking.

It Is The Excitement Of Becoming - Always Becoming, Trying, Probing, Falling, Resting, And Trying Again- But Always Trying And Always Gaining

At The Desk Where I Sit, I Have Learned One Great Truth. The Answer For All Our National Problems - The Answer For All The Problems Of The World - Come To A Single Word. That Word Is "education."

Poverty Has Many Roots, But The Tap Root Is Ignorance.

There Is No Issue Of States' Rights Or National Rights. There Is Only The Struggle For Human Rights.

Men Who Have Worked Together To Reach The Stars Are Not Likely To Descend Together Into The Depths Of War And Desolation.

The United States Stands By Its Friends. Israel Is One Of Its Friends Peace Can Be Based Only On Agreement Between The Parties And Agreement Can Be Achieved Only Through Negotiations Between Them. The United States Will Not Impose The Terms Of Peace. The United States Is Prepared To Supply Military Equipment Necessary To Support The Efforts Of Friendly Governments, Like Israel's, To Defend The Safety Of Their People.

If We Must Disagree, Let's Disagree Without Being Disagreeable.

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.

We Did Not Choose To Be The Guardians Of The Gate, But There Is No One Else.

The Job, Of Course, Will Never Be Finished. For A Nation, As For An Individual, Education Is A Perpetually Unfinished Journey, A Continuing Process Of Discovery.

Second, This Law Has Become A Special Symbol Of Our Nation's Most Important Purpose: To Fulfill The Individual - His Freedom, His Happiness, His Promise.

An Unfolding Technology Has Increased Our Economic Strength And Added To The Convenience Of Our Lives. But That Same Technology-we Know Now-carries Danger With It. From The Great Smoke Stacks Of Industry And From The Exhausts Of Motors And Machines, 130 Million Tons Of Soot, Carbon And Grime Settle Over The People And Shroud The Nation's Cities Each Year. From Towns, Factories, And Stockyards, Wastes Pollute Our Rivers And Streams, Endangering The Waters We Drink And Use.

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.

You Never Want To Give A Man A Present When He's Feeling Good. You Want To Do It When He's Down.

Today Our Problem Is Not Making Miracles, But Managing Them.

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.

There Are Some, I Know, Who See Beautification As A Frill, As An Extra, Or As Something That Is Luxurious Enough To Postpone. Well, They Make Me Impatient Because I Am Convinced That Beauty And Order In Our Environment Are Not Frills. I Am Convinced That They Are Urgent Necessities Because They Will Determine Whether Our Grandchildren Can Live In A Decent Land Or Whether They Will Be Surrounded By Glittering Junkheaps.

If The American People Don't Love Me, Their Descendants Will.

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.

All That Hubert Needs Over There Is A Gal To Answer The Phone And A Pencil With An Eraser On It.

I Feel Like I Just Grabbed A Big Juicy Worm With A Right Sharp Hook In The Middle Of It.

All Of Us Realize That War Requires Action. What Is Sometimes Harder For Us To Realize Is That Peace And Neutrality Also Require Action.

There Are No Favorites In My Office. I Treat Them All With The Same General Inconsideration.

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.

Ambition Is An Uncomfortable Companion Many Times. He Creates A Discontent With Present Surroundings And Achievements; He Is Never Satisfied But Always Pressing Forward To Better Things In The Future. Restless, Energetic, Purposeful, It Is Ambition That Makes Of The Creature A Real Man.

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.

First, This Law - The National Defense Education Act - Ended Years And Years Of Debate About One Controversial Question: 'shall The Federal Government, With All Its Massive Resources, Get Directly Involved In Aiding American Education?' The Answer This Law Gave Was A Loud 'yes!' - And Thus We Paved The Way For A New Era Of Support For Education In America. This Law, In Fact, Helped Make Possible More Than 50 New Education Laws Passed In My Administration.

I Cannot Say And No Man Could Say That No More Will Be Asked Of Us.

They Call Upon Us To Supply American Boys To Do The Job That Asian Boys Should Do.

We Live In A World That Has Narrowed Into A Neighborhood Before It Has Broadened Into A Brotherhood.

The Air Force Comes In Every Morning And Says, 'bomb, Bomb, Bomb' ... And Then The State Department Comes In And Says, 'not Now, Or Not There, Or Too Much, Or Not At All.'

I May Not Worry As Much As Prime Minister Eshkol Does About Israel, But I Worry As Deeply.

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.

I Won't Have You Electioneering On My Doorstep. Every Time You Get In Trouble In Parliament You Run Over Here With Your Shirttail Hanging Out.

I Don't Think That I Need To Tell You How Important To The Outcome Of That Race Is The Education Legislation That Is Now Before The Congress. I Hope That It Is Important Enough That Most Of You Have Studied It In Detail. I Hope That You Understand That It Represents The Very Best Thinking That The Leading Educators Of This Country Can Produce.

You Know There Is No One In The World I Would Rather Sleep With Than Yuki.

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 Dont Like To Say This And Wish I Didnt Have To Add These Words To Make It Clear But I Willregardless Of Color, Creed, Ancestry, Sex Or Age.

It's Too Bad, But The Way American People Are, Now That They Have All This Capability, Instead Of Taking Advantage Of It, They'll Probably Just Piss It All Away.

I Want To Make A Policy Statement. I Am Unabashedly In Favor Of Women.

Every Citizen Will Be Able, In His Productive Years When He Is Earning, To Insure Himself Against The Ravages Of Illness In His Old Age.

If Government Is To Serve Any Purpose It Is To Do For Others What They Are Unable To Do For Themselves.

It Will Help At Every State Along The Road To Learning. For The Pre-school Years We Will Help Needy Children Become Aware Of The Excitement Of Learning.

My Most Fervent Prayer Is To Be A President Who Can Make It Possible For Every Boy In This Land To Grow To Manhood By Loving His Country--instead Of Dying For It.

A Third Place To Build The Great Society Is In The Classrooms Of America. There Your Children's Lives Will Be Shaped. Our Society Will Not Be Great Until Every Young Mind Is Set Free To Scan The Farthest Reaches Of Thought And Imagination. We Are Still Far From That Goal.

Every Man Has A Right To A Saturday Night Bath.

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.

The Last Thing I Wanted To Do Was To Be A Wartime President.

No Man Should Think That Peace Comes Easily. Peace Does Not Come By Merely Wanting It, Or Shouting For It, Or Marching Down Main Street For It. Peace Is Built Brick By Brick, Mortared By The Stubborn Effort And The Total Energy And Imagination Of Able And Dedicated Men. And It Is Built In The Living Faith That, In The End, Man Can And Will Master His Own Destiny.

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.

'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.

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

This Is Not A Jungle War, But A Struggle For Freedom On Every Front Of Human Activity.

In 1838, Mirabeau B. Lamar, The Second President Of The Republic Of Texas And The Father Of Texas Education, Declared: 'the Cultivated Mind Is The Guardian Genius Of Democracy. It Is The Only Dictator That Free Man Acknowledges. It Is The Only Security That Free Man Desires.'

In Modern Warfare There Are No Victors; There Are Only Survivors.

If One Little Old General In Shirt Sleeves Can Take Saigon, Think About 200 Million Chinese Comin' Down Those Trails. No Sir, I Don't Want To Fight Them.

I Believe That The Country Weekly Acts As A Form Of Social Cement In Holding The Community Together.

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 Homeand We Aim To Get It.

Bias And Prejudice

The Hungry World Cannot Be Fed Until And Unless The Growth Of Its Resources And The Growth Of Its Population Come Into Balance. Each Man And Woman-and Each Nation-must Make Decisions Of Conscience And Policy In The Face Of This Great Problem.

Population Problem

As The House Is Designed To Provide A Reflection Of The Mood Of The Moment, The Senate Is Meant To Reflect The Continuity Of The Past--to Preserve The Delicate Balance Of Justice Between The Majority's Whims And The Minority's Rights.

What We Won When All Of Our People United Just Must Not Now Be Lost In Suspicion, Distrust, Selfishness, And Politics Among Any Of Our People. Accordingly, I Shall Not Seek, And I Will Not Accept, The Nomination Of My Party For Another Term As Your President.

You Might Say That Lyndon Johnson Is A Cross Between A Baptist Preacher And A Cowboy.

Mr. Speaker, At A Time When The Nation Is Again Confronted With Necessity For Calling Its Young Men Into Service In The Interestsof National Security, I Cannot See The Wisdom Of Denying Our Young Women The Opportunity To Serve Their Country.

There Is No Constitutional Issue Here. The Command Of The Constitution Is Plain. There Is No Moral Issue. It Is Wrong - Deadly Wrong - To Deny Any Of Your Fellow Americans The Right To Vote In This Country. There Is No Issue Of States' Rights Or National Rights. There Is Only The Struggle For Human Rights.

This Right To Vote Is The Basic Right Without Which All Others Are Meaningless. It Gives People, People As Individuals, Control Over Their Own Destinies.

Evil Acts Of The Past Are Never Rectified By Evil Acts Of The Present.

A President's Hardest Task Is Not To Do What Is Right, But To Know What Is Right.

The Prospect Of Penury In Age Is So Gloomy And Terrifying That Every Man Who Looks Before Him Must Resolve To Avoid It; And It Must Be Avoided Generally By The Science Of Sparing. For, Though In Every Age There Are Some Who, By Bold Adventures, Or By Favorable Accidents, Rise Suddenly To Riches, Yet It Is Dangerous To Indulge Hopes Of Such Rare Events; And The Bulk Of Mankind Must Owe Their Affluence To Small And Gradual Profits, Below Which Their Expense Must Be Resolutely Reduced.

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.

The Final Conquest Of Poverty Is Within Our Grasp.

Nothing Is More Despicable Than The Old Age Of A Passionate Man. When The Vigour Of Youth Fails Him, And His Amusements Pall With Frequent Repetition, His Occasional Rage Sinks By Decay Of Strength Into Peevishness; That Peevishness, For Want Of Novelty And Variety, Becomes Habitual; The World Falls Off From Around Him, And He Is Left, As Homer Expresses It, To Devour His Own Heart In Solitude And Contempt.

To Hunger For Use And To Go Unused Is The Worst Hunger Of All.

A Good President Does With Executive Power What Pablo Picasso Did With Paint. He Takes Bills Into New And Slightly Discomfiting Territory. He Puts Extra Eyes On Policies. He Moves The Mouth Of The Supreme Court From Where It Should Be To Where It Must Be.

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.

The Noblest Search Is The Search For Excellence.

The Great Society Is A Place Where Men Are More Concerned With The Quality Of Their Goods Than With The Quantity Of Their Goods.

When I Was Young, Poverty Was So Common That We Didn't Know It Had A Name.

And Americans Have Always Stood Ready To Pay The Cost In Energy And Treasure Which Are Needed To Make Those Goals A Reality.

The Classroom - Not The Trench - Is The Frontier Of Freedom Now And Forevermore.

We Decided That Our First Job Was To Help The Schools Serving The Children From The Very Lowest Income Groups. Those Families Constitute The Number One Burden, The Number One Burden In This Nation On The School Systems.

New Laboratories And Centers Will Help Our Schools Lift Their Standards Of Excellence And Explore New Methods Of Teaching. These Centers Will Provide Special Training For Those Who Need And Deserve Special Treatment.

Nothing Is More Unjust, However Common, Than To Charge With Hypocrisy Him That Expresses Zeal For Those Virtues Which He Neglects To Practice; Since He May Be Sincerely Convinced Of The Advantages Of Conquering His Passions Without Having Yet Obtained The Victory As A Man May Be Confident Of The Advantages Of A Voyage Or A Journey, Without Having Courage Or Industry To Undertake It, And May Honestly Recommend To Others Those Attempts Which He Neglects Himself.

When A Person Finds Themselves Predisposed To Complaining About How Little They Are Regarded By Others, Let Them Reflect How Little They Have Contributed To The Happiness Of Others.

All The Historians Are Harvard People. It Just Isn't Fair. Poor Old Hoover From West Branch, Iowa, Had No Chance With That Crowd;nor Did Andrew Jackson From Tennessee. Nor Does Lyndon Johnson From Stonewall, Texas. It Just Isn't Fair.

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.

Most Of All We Need An Education Which Will Create An Educated Mind. This Is A Mind Not Simply A Repository Of Information And Skills, But A Mind That Is A Source Of Creative Skepticism, Characterized By A Willingness To Challenge Old Assumptions And To Be Challenged, A Spaciousness Of Outlook, And Convictions That Are Deeply Held, But Which New Facts And New Experiences Can Always Modify.

New Experiences

Not Merely A Nation But A Nation Of Nations.

United States Of America

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.

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.

Education Is Not A Problem. Education Is An Opportunity.

Curtis Le May Wants To Bomb Hanoi And Haiphong. You Know How He Likes To Go Around Bombing.

If We Quit Vietnam, Tomorrow We'll Be Fighting In Hawaii, And Next Week We'll Have To Fight In San Francisco.

Every Night Before I Turn Out The Lights To Sleep, I Ask Myself This Question: Have I Done Everything That I Can.... Have I Done Enough?

[the United States And Israel] Share Many Common Objectives ... Chief Of Which Is The Building Of A Better World In Which Every Nation Can Develop Its Resources And Develop Them In Freedom And Peace.

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.

If We Fail Now, Then We Will Have Forgotten In Abundance What We Learned In Hardship: That Democracy Rests On Faith; Freedom Asks More Than It Gives; And The Judgment Of God Is Harshest On Those Who Are Most Favored.

I Wake Up 5 A.m. Some Mornings And Hear The Planes Coming In At National Airport And I Think They Are Bombing Me.

I Seldom Think Of Politics More Than Eighteen Hours A Day.

In Our Home There Was Always Prayer - Aloud, Proud And Unapologetic.

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 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.

Life Is Never Easy. There Is Work To Be Done And Obligations To Be Met - Obligations To Truth, To Justice, And To Liberty.

Inspirational Life

Peace Is A Journey Of A Thousand Miles And It Must Be Taken One Step At A Time.

How Incredible It Is That In This Fragile Existence We Should Hate And Destroy One Another. There Are Possibilities Enough For All Who Will Abandon Mastery Over Others To Pursue Mastery Over Nature. There Is World Enough For All To Seek Their Happiness In Their Own Way.

For Me, It Is A Deep Personal Tragedy. I Know That 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.

Control Of Space Means Control Of The World.

Yesterday Is Not Ours To Recover, But Tomorrow Is Ours To Win Or Lose.

There Can No Longer Be Anyone Too Poor To Vote.

Every Citizen, Regardless Of His Race, Creed, Or Color, Is Entitled To Equal Justice.

For This Is What America Is All About. It Is The Uncrossed Desert And The Unclimbed Ridge. It Is The Star That Is Not Reached And The Harvest That Is Sleeping In The Unplowed Ground.

Knowledge Is Of Two Kinds: We Know A Subject Itself, Or Know Where To Find It.

Doing The Right Thing Is Not The Problem. Knowing What The Right Thing Is, That's The Challenge.

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.

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.

I Am Afraid, ... That Health Begins, After Seventy, And Often Long Before, To Have A Meaning Different From That Which It Had At Thirty. But It Is Culpable To Murmur At The Established Order Of The Creation, As It Is Vain To Oppose It. He That Lives, Must Grow Old; And He That Would Rather Grow Old Than Die, Has God To Thank For The Infirmities Of Old Age.

The Organization Of American States Couldn't Pour Piss Out Of A Boot If The Instructions Were Written On The Heel.

Every Gift Contains A Danger. Whatever Gift We Have We Are Compelled To Express. And If The Expression Of That Gift Is Blocked, Distorted, Or Merely Allowed To Languish, Then The Gift Turns Against Us, And We Suffer.

Being President Is Like Being A Jackass In A Hailstorm. There's Nothing To Do But To Stand There And Take It.

The Future Holds Little Hope For Any Government Where The Present Holds No Hope For The People.

I Want Real Loyalty. I Want Someone Who Will Kiss My Ass In Macy's Window, And Say It Smells Like Roses.

Once We Considered Education A Public Expense; We Know Now That It Is A Public Investment.

Today, 8 Million Adult Americans, More Than The Entire Population Of Michigan, Have Not Finished 5 Years Of School. Nearly 20 Million Have Not Finished 8 Years Of School. Nearly 54 Million - More Than One-quarter Of All America - Have Not Even Finished High School.

We Are Now Embarked On Another Venture To Put The American Dream To Work In Meeting The New Demands Of A New Day. Once Again We Must Start Where Men Would Improve Their Society Have Always Known They Must Begin - With An Educational System Restudied, Reinforced, And Revitalized.

Liberty Is Not Enough.

The American West Is Just Arriving At The Threshold Of Its Greatness And Growth. Where The West Of Yesterday Is Glamorized In Our Fiction, The Future Of The American West Now Is Both Fabulous And Factual.

Americans Have Always Built For The Future. That Is Why We Established Land Grant Colleges And Passed The Homestead Act To Open Our Western Lands More Than 100 Years Ago.

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