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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.

-Lyndon B. Johnson

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An Unfolding Technology Has

Lyndon B. Johnson

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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.

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

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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.

We Still Seek No Wider War.

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.

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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.

We Must Open The Doors Of Opportunity.

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.

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

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

'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.

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

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.

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I Am Going To Build The Kind Of Nation That President Roosevelt Hoped For, President Truman Worked For, And President Kennedy Died For.

Every Old Man Complains Of The Growing Depravity Of The World, Of The Petulance And Insolence Of The Rising Generation. He Recounts The Decency And Regularity Of Former Times, And Celebrates The Discipline And Sobriety Of The Age In Which His Youth Was Passed; A Happy Age Which Is Now No More To Be Expected, Since Confusion Has Broken In Upon The World, And Thrown Down All The Boundaries Of Civility And Reverence.

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.

If A Single Act Of Folly Was More Responsible For This Explosion Than Any Other It Was The Arbitrary And Dangerous Announced Decision That The Straits Of Tiran Would Be Closed. The Right Of Innocent, Maritime Passage Must Be Preserved For All Nations

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

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We Do This In Order To Slow Down Aggression. We Do This To Increase The Confidence Of The Brave People Of South Vietnam Who Have Bravely Born This Brutal Battle For So Many Years With So Many Casualties. And We Do This To Convince The Leaders Of North Vietnam-and All Who Seek To Share Their Conquest-of A Simple Fact: We Will Not Be Defeated. We Will Not Grow Tired. We Will Not Withdraw Either Openly Or Under The Cloak Of A Meaningless Agreement.

...where Legitimate Opportunities Are Closed, Illegitimate Opportunities Are Seized. Whatever Opens Opportunity And Hope Will Help To Prevent Crime And Foster Responsibility.

If One Morning I Walked On Top Of The Water Across The Potomac River, The Headline That Afternoon Would Read: 'president Can't Swim.'

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.

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A Man Without A Vote Is Man Without Protection.

I Believe The Destiny Of Your Generation - And Your Nation - Is A Rendezvous With Excellence.

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Inspirational Presidential

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

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.

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I'm Gonna Hunker Down Like A Jack Rabbit In A Dust Storm

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The Noblest Search Is The Search For Excellence.

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Throughout My Entire Public Career I Have Followed The Personal Philosophy That I Am A Free Man, An American, A Public Servant, And A Member Of My Party, In That Order Always And Only.

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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.

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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."

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 Nation's Sake.

Voting Is The First Duty Of Democracy.

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.

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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?

...that Though They May Refuse To Grow Wise, They Must Inevitably Grow Old; ...that The Proper Solaces Of Age Are Not Music And Compliments, But Wisdom And Devotion; That Those Who Are So Unwilling To Quit The World Will Soon Be Driven From It; And That It Is Therefore In Their Interest To Retire While There Yet Remain A Few Hours Of Nobler Employments.

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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.

Books And Ideas Are The Most Effective Weapons Against Intolerance And Ignorance.

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

Did You Ever Think That Making A Speech On Economy Is A Lot Like Pissing Down Your Leg? It Seems Hot To You, But It Never Does To Anyone Else.

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

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

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

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.

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

Democracy Is A Constant Tension Between Truth And Half-truth And, In The Arsenal Of Truth, There Is No Greater Weapon Than Fact.

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.

We Preach The Virtues Of Democracy Abroad. We Must Practice Its Duties Here At Home. Voting Is The First Duty Of Democracy.

In Many Places, Classrooms Are Overcrowded And Curricula Are Outdated. Most Of Our Qualified Teachers Are Underpaid, And Many Of Our Paid Teachers Are Unqualified. So We Must Give Every Child A Place To Sit And A Teacher To Learn From. Poverty Must Not Be A Bar To Learning, And Learning Must Offer An Escape From Poverty.

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.

Poverty Must Not Be A Bar To Learning And Learning Must Offer An Escape From Poverty.

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.

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.

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

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

If There Is One Word That Describes Our Form Of Society In America, It May Be The Word-voluntary.

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.

Whoever Won't Fight When The President Calls Him, Deserves To Be Kicked Back In His Hole And Kept There.

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

When I Was A Boy We Didn't Wake Up With Vietnam And Have Cyprus For Lunch And The Congo For Dinner.

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

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

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.

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.

We Must Not Only Protect The Country Side And Save It From Destruction, We Must Restore What Has Been Destroyed And Salvage The Beauty And Charm Of Our Cities ... Once Our Natural Splendor Is Destroyed, It Can Never Be Recaptured. And Once Man Can No Longer Walk With Beauty Or Wonder At Nature, His Spirit Will Wither And His Sustenance Be Wasted.

Doing What's Right Isn't The Problem. It Is Knowing What's Right.

Education Will Not Cure All The Problems Of Society, But Without It No Cure For Any Problem Is Possible.

The Final Conquest Of Poverty Is Within Our Grasp.

We Have The Opportunity To Move Not Only Toward The Rich Society And The Powerful Society, But Upward To The Great Society.

A President Must Call On Many Persons--some To Man The Ramparts And To Watch The Far Away, Distant Posts; Others To Lead Us In Science, Medicine, Education And Social Progress Here At Home.

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

The Cia Is Made Up Of Boys Whose Families Sent Them To Princeton But Wouldn't Let Them Into The Family Brokerage Business.

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

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

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.

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.

Light At The End Of The Tunnel? We Don't Even Have A Tunnel; We Don't Even Know Where The Tunnel Is.

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.

Better To Have Him Inside The Tent Pissing Out, Than Outside The Tent Pissing In.

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

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

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.

He's A Nice Guy, But He Played Too Much Football With His Helmet Off.

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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.

In The Last Few Decades Entire New Categories Of Waste Have Come To Plague And Menace The American Scene. Pollution Is Growing At A Rapid Rate. Pollution Destroys Beauty And Menaces Health. It Cuts Down On Efficiency, Reduces Property Values And Raises Taxes. Almost All These Wastes And Pollutions Are The Result Of Activities Carried On For The Benefit Of Man. A Prime National Goal Must Be An Environment That Is Pleasing To The Senses And Healthy To Live In. Our Government Is Already Doing Much In This Field. We Have Made Significant Progress. But More Must Be Done.

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.

An Unspoiled River Is A Very Rare Thing In This Nation Today. Their Flow And Vitality Have Been Harnessed By Dams And Too Often They Have Been Turned Into Open Sewers By Communities And By Industries. It Makes Us All Very Fearful That All Rivers Will Go This Way Unless Somebody Acts Now To Try To Balance Our River Development.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I Do Not Find It Easy To Send The Flower Of Our Youth, Our Finest Young Men, Into Battle.

Education Is Not A Problem. Education Is An Opportunity.

This Is Not Johnson's War. This Is America's War. If I Drop Dead Tomorrow, This War Will Still Be With You.

Our Understanding Of How To Live With One Another Is Still Far Behind Our Knowledge Of How To Destroy One Another.

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.

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.

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.

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

A President Roosevelt Comes Only Once In A Century. I Believe God Knew And Does Know Of The Need Of The World At This Moment. I Don't Believe President Roosevelt Is An Accident In Time, Or That It Is An Accident That He Is President For A Third Time. I Believe That Franklin D. Roosevelt Truly Is The Voice Of Liberty In The World.

Our Objective In South Vietnam Has Never Been The Annihilation Of The Enemy. It Has Been To Bring About A Recognition In Hanoi That Its Objective - Taking Over The South By Force - Could Not Be Achieved.

For Every Generation, There Is A Destiny. For Some, History Decides. For This Generation, The Choice Must Be Our Own. [...] Our Destiny In The Midst Of Change Will Rest On The Unchanged Character Of Our People, And On Their Faith.

Above The Pyramid On The Great Seal Of The United States It Says In Latin: "god Has Favored Our Undertaking." God Will Not Favor Everything That We Do. It Is Rather Our Duty To Divine His Will.

I Am A Freeman, An American, A United States Senator, And A Democrat, In That Order.

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.

Watch Their Hands, Watch Their Eyes. Read Eyes. No Matter What A Man Is Saying To You, It's Not As Important As What You Can Read In His Eyes. The Most Important Thing A Man Has To Tell You Is What He's Not Telling You; The Most Important Thing He Has To Say Is What He's Trying Not To Say.

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.

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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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

Congratulations

There Are No Problems We Cannot Solve Together, And Very Few That We Can Solve By Ourselves.

For The First Time In Our History It Is Possible To Conquer Poverty.

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.

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.

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.

Congratulations

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

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.

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.

We Americans Know - Although Others Appear To Forget - The Risk Of Spreading Conflict. We Still Seek No Wider War.

Effective Law Enforcement And Social Justice Must Be Pursued Together, As The Foundation Of Our Efforts Against Crime.

If The Purpose Of Lamentation Be To Excite Pity, It Is Surely Superfluous For Age And Weakness To Tell Their Plaintive Stories; For Pity Presupposes Sympathy, And A Little Attention Will Show Them, That Those Who Do Not Feel Pain Seldom Think That It Is Felt.

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

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

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.

Every Man Has A Right To A Saturday Night Bath.

The Family Is The Corner Stone Of Our Society.

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

I'm A Powerful S.o.b., You Know That?

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

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.

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.

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.

Boys, It Is Just Like The Alamo. Somebody Should Have By God Helped Those Texans. I'm Going To Vietnam.

The Debris Of Civilization Litters The Landscapes And Spoils The Beaches. Conservation's Concerns Now Is Not Only For Man's Enjoyment-but For Man's Survival.

Nothing Comes Free. Nothing. Not Even Good, Especially Not Good.

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.

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