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Government Is Best Which Is Closest To The People. Yet That Belief Is Betrayed By Those State And Local Officials Who Engage In Denying The Right Of Citizens To Vote. Their Actions Serve Only To Assure That Their State Governments And Local Governments Shall Be Remote From The People, Least Representative Of The People's Will And Least Responsive To The People's Wishes.

-Lyndon B. Johnson

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Government Is Best Which

Lyndon B. Johnson

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Government Is Best Which Is Closest To The People. Yet That Belief Is Betrayed By Those State And Local Officials Who Engage In Denying The Right Of Citizens To Vote. Their Actions Serve Only To Assure That Their State Governments And Local Governments Shall Be Remote From The People, Least Representative Of The People's Will And Least Responsive To The People's Wishes.

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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.

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

Every Man Has A Right To A Saturday Night Bath.

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

We Believe, That Is, You And I, That Education Is Not An Expense. We Believe It Is An Investment.

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.

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

'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.

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.

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.

The Crotch, Down Where Your Nuts Hang, Is Always A Little Too Tight.

In A Nation Of Millions And A World Of Billions, The Individual Is Still The First And Basic Agent Of Change.

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

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.

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

This Civil Rights Act Is A Challenge To All Of Us To Go To Work In Our Communities And Our States, In Our Homes And In Our Hearts, To Eliminate The Last Vestiges Of Injustice In Our Beloved Country. So Tonight I Urge Every Public Official, Every Religious Leader, Every Business And Professional Man, Every Working Man, Every Housewife - I Urge Every American - To Join In This Effort To Bring Justice And Hope To All Our People, And To Bring Peace To Our Land.

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. ... Most, If Not All Of You, Have Very Deep Ties With The Land And With The People Of Israel, As I Do; For My Christian Faith Sprang From Yours. The Bible Stories Are Woven Into My Childhood Memories As The Gallant Struggle Of Modem Jews To Be Free Of Persecution Is Also Woven Into Our Souls.

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.

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

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

Education Is 'the Guardian Genius Of Our Democracy.' Nothing Really Means More To Our Future, Not Our Military Defenses, Not Our Missiles Or Our Bombers, Not Our Production Economy, Not Even Our Democratic System Of Government. For All Of These Are Worthless If We Lack The Brain Power To Support And Sustain 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.

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.

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.

But More Classrooms And More Teachers Are Not Enough. We Must Seek An Educational System Which Grows In Excellence As It Grows In Size. This Means Better Training For Our Teachers. It Means Preparing Youth To Enjoy Their Hours Of Leisure As Well As Their Hours Of Labor. It Means Exploring New Techniques Of Teaching, To Find New Ways To Stimulate The Love Of Learning And The Capacity For Creation.

Let Us Close The Springs Of Racial Poison. Let Us Pray For Wise And Understanding Hearts. Let Us Lay Aside Irrelevant Differences And Make Our Nation Whole.

The Purposeful Many Need Not And Will Not Bow To The Willful Few.

For The Primary And Secondary School Years, We Will Aid Public Schools Serving Low-income Families And Assist Students In Both Public And Private Schools.

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.

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

American Politics

I Will Not Seek, And I Will Not Accept The Nomination Of My Party For Another Term As Your President.

You Aren't Learning Anything When You're Talking.

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

Many Have No Happier Moments Than Those That They Pass In Solitude, Abandoned To Their Own Imagination, Which Sometimes Puts Sceptres In Their Hands Or Miters On Their Heads, Shifts The Scene Of Pleasure With Endless Variety, Bids All The Forms Of Beauty Sparkle Before Them, And Gluts Them With Every Change Of Visionary Luxury.

There Can No Longer Be Anyone Too Poor To Vote.

You Have Your Own Difficulties. We Watch, With Friendly Confidence In Your Capacity To Merge Differences In The Grand Dream Of Canadian Design.

I Am Proud To Be A Member Of A Party That Opens Its Doors To All Men--and Closes Its Hearts To None.

The Exercise Of Power In This Century Has Meant For All Of Us In The United States Not Arrogance, But Agony.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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 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

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.

Of All The Problems Of Conservation, None Is More Urgent That The Polluted Air Which Endangers The American People. We Have Been Fortunate So Far. But We Have Seen That When Winds Fail To Blow, The Concentrations Of Poisonous Clouds Over Our Cities Can Become Perilous.

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

So Here Is The Great Society. It's The Time - And It's Going To Be Soon - When Nobody In This Country Is Poor.

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.

Jerry Ford Is So Dumb He Can't Fart And Chew Gum At The Same Time.

We Have Entered An Age In Which Education Is Not Just A Luxury Permitting Some Men An Advantage Over Others. It Has Become A Necessity Without Which A Person Is Defenseless In This Complex, Industrialized Society. We Have Truly Entered The Century Of The Educated Man.

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

Government Is Best Which Is Closest To The People. Yet That Belief Is Betrayed By Those State And Local Officials Who Engage In Denying The Right Of Citizens To Vote. Their Actions Serve Only To Assure That Their State Governments And Local Governments Shall Be Remote From The People, Least Representative Of The People's Will And Least Responsive To The People's Wishes.

The Family Is The Corner Stone Of Our Society. More Than Any Other Force It Shapes The Attitude, The Hopes, The Ambitions, And The Values Of The Child. And When The Family Collapses It Is The Children That Are Usually Damaged. When It Happens On A Massive Scale The Community Itself Is Crippled.

There Are Plenty Of Recommendations On How To Get Out Of Trouble Cheaply And Fast. Most Of Them Come Down To This: Deny Your Responsibility.

If You're Not Listening, You're Not Learning.

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.

. . . The Time Has Also Come To Identify And Preserve Free-flowing Stretches Of Our Great Rivers Before Growth And Development Make The Beauty Of The Unspoiled Waterway A Memory.

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

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.

'human History, ' H.g. Wells Once Wrote, 'becomes More And More A Race Between Education And Catastrophe.' You And I Cannot Be Indifferent To The Outcome Of That Race. We Care Deeply About The Winner. Because We Do Care So Deeply About The Winner, That Is Why We Are All In The East Room Of The White House Today.

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

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

We Need To Remember That The Separation Of Church And State Must Never Mean The Separation Of Religious Values From The Lives Of Public Servants. . . If We Who Serve Free Men Today Are To Differ From The Tyrants Of This Age, We Must Balance The Powers In Our Hands With God In Our Hearts.

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.

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.

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.

War Is Always The Same. It Is Young Men Dying In The Fullness Of Their Promise. It Is Trying To Kill A Man That You Do Not Even Know Well Enough To Hate. Therefore, To Know War Is To Know That There Is Still Madness In The World.

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.

I Am Making A Collection Of The Things My Opponents Have Found Me To Be And, When This Election Is Over, I Am Going To Open A Museum And Put Them On Display.

The Great Society Is A Place Where Every Child Can Find Knowledge To Enrich His Mind And To Enlarge His Talents. It Is A Place Where The City Of Man Serves Not Only The Needs Of The Body And The Demands Of Commerce But The Desire For Beauty And The Hunger For Community. It Is A Place Where Men Are More Concerned With The Quality Of Their Goals Than The Quantity Of Their Goods.

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

Democrats Legislate; Republicans Investigate.

The Best Way To Begin Disarming Is To Begin-and The United States Is Ready To Conclude Firm Agreements In These Areas And To Consider Any Other Reasonable Proposal.

I'm The Only President You've Got.

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.

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

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.

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.

I Don't Have Any Handicap. I Am All Handicap.

Greater Love Hath No Man Than To Attend The Episcopal Church With His Wife.

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

Not Merely A Nation But A Nation Of Nations.

United States Of America

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

The Guns And The Bombs, The Rockets And The Warships, Are All Symbols Of Human Failure.

To Conclude That Women Are Unfitted To The Task Of Our Historic Society Seems To Me The Equivalent Of Closing Male Eyes To Female Facts.

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.

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.

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.

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

Such Is The Condition Of Life That Something Is Always Wanting To Happiness. In Youth We Have Warm Hopes, Which Are Soon Blasted By Rashness And Negligence, And Great Designs Which Are Defeated By Inexperience. In Age, We Have Knowledge And Prudence, Without Spirit To Exert, Or Motives To Prompt Them; We Are Able To Plan Schemes, And Regulate Measures, But Have Not Time Remaining To Bring Them To Completion.

Every President Wants To Do Right.

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

[e]very Man, Everywhere, Should Be Free To Develop His Talents To Their Full Potential - Unhampered By Arbitrary Barriers Of Race Or Birth Or Income.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Today - Wealthier, More Powerful And More Able Than Ever Before In Our History - Our Nation Can Declare Another Essential Freedom.

Success Only Feeds The Appetite Of Aggression.

The Vote Is The Most Powerful Instrument Ever Devised By Man For Breaking Down Injustice And Destroying The Terrible Walls Which Imprison Men Because They Are Different From Other Men.

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

I Dont Believe In Labels. I Want To Do The Best I Can, All The Time. I Want To Be Progressive Without Getting Both Feet Off The Ground At The Same Time. I Want To Be Prudent Without Having My Mind Closed To Anything That Is New Or Different. I Have Often Said That I Was Proud That I Was A Free Man First And An American Second, And A Public Servant Third And A Democrat Fourth, In That Order, And I Guess As A Democrat, If I Had To Takeplace A Label On Myself, I Would Want To Be A Progressive Who Is Prudent.

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.

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.

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

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.

All I Have I Would Have Given Gladly Not To Be Standing Here Today.

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

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.'

Four. That's What I Want You To Remember. If You Don't Get Your Idea Across In The First Four Minutes, You Won't Do It. Four Sentences To A Paragraph. Four Letters To A Word. The Most Important Words In The English Language All Have Four Letters. Home. Love. Food. Land. Peace. . .i Know Peace Has Five Letters, But Any Damn Fool Knows It Should Have Four.

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.

We Still Seek No Wider War.

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

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

President Can't Swim.

But, Most Of All, The Great Society Is Not A Safe Harbor, A Resting Place, A Final Objective, A Finished Work. It Is A Challenge Constantly Renewed, Beckoning Us Toward A Destiny Where The Meaning Of Our Lives Matches The Marvelous Products Of Our Labor.

I Know - From Personal Experience - That Abiding Values And Abundant Visions Are Learned In The Homes Of Our People.

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.

At Times History And Fate Meet At A Single Time In A Single Place To Shape A Turning Point In Man's Unending Search For Freedom.

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.

We Are Not About To Send American Boys 9 Or 10 Thousand Miles Away From Home To Do What Asian Boys Ought To Be Doing For Themselves.

...international Education Cannot Be The Work Of One Country. It Is The Responsibility And Promise Of All Nations. It Calls For Free Exchange And Full Collaboration...the Knowledge Of Our Citizens Is One Treasure Which Grows Only When It Is Shared.

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

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

The Presidency Has Made Every Man Who Occupied It, No Matter How Small, Bigger Than He Was; And No Matter How Big, Not Big Enough For Its Demands.

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

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

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.

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

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?

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

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.

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.

Taxation Without Representation

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

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.

What Convinces Is Conviction.

This Congress Did More To Uplift Education, More To Attack Disease In This Country And Around The World, And More To Conquer Poverty Than Any Other Session In All American History, And What More Worthy Achievements Could Any Person Want To Have? For It Was The Congress That Was More True Than Any Other Congress To Thomas Jefferson's Belief That: 'the Care Of Human Life And Happiness Is The First And Only Legitimate Objective Of Good Government.'

The Noblest Search Is The Search For Excellence.

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

...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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Jack Was Out Kissing Babies While I Was Out Passing Bills. Someone Had To Tend The Store.

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

In Addition To Our Existing Programs, I Will Recommend A New Program For Schools And Students With A First-year Authorization Of $1,500 Million.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

Hug Your Friends Tight, But Your Enemies Tighter ? Hug ?em So Tight They Can?t Wiggle.

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

I'd Rather Give My Life Than Be Afraid To Give It.

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.'

The American Indian, Once Proud And Free, Is Torn Now Between White And Tribal Values; Between The Politics And Language Of The White Man And His Own Historic Culture. His Problems, Sharpened By Years Of Defeat And Exploitation, Neglect And Inadequate Effort, Will Take Many Years To Overcome.

A Man Without A Vote Is Man Without Protection.

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.

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

Never Make A Speech At A Country Dance Or A Football Game.

We Must Open The Doors Of Opportunity.

It May Be, It Just May Be, That Life As We Know It With Its Humanity Is More Unique Than Many Have Thought.

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

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

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

There's Something Special For Everyone To Do. Remember, No Experience Is A Bad Experience Unless You Gain Nothing From 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

It Is Always A Strain When People Are Being Killed. I Don't Think Anybody Has Held This Job Who Hasn't Felt Personally Responsible For Those Being Killed.

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

A Man Can Take A Little Bourbon Without Getting Drunk, But If You Hold His Mouth Open And Pour In A Quart, He's Going To Get Sick On It.

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

You Ain't Learnin' Nothin' When You're Talkin'.

Inspirational Presidential

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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