Lyndon B. Johnson Quotes

Freedom and opportunity are precious gifts and the purpose of our politics is to expand them, for all our people.

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.

He worked for the day when all people would be clothed in dignity.

We do believe that freedom, the right to choose, the right to vote, respect and justice is the fundamental right of all people. All people must obtain these rights.

And this we should believe: that hope and volition can bring us closer to our ultimate goal: justice for all, injustice for no-one.

We are not fighting for integration, nor are we fighting for separation. We are fighting for recognition as human beings. We are fighting for human rights.

This is not a question of expediency, but of right. In antebellum days the proposition was not, “Are the blacks good enough to be free?” but, “Have they the right?” So today the question is not, “Will outrages result from freeing humanity?” but, “Has it the right to life, the means of life, the opportunities of happiness?”

What is life without liberty; and what is liberty without equality of rights?

Compassion, hope, and opportunity are some of the most fundamentally American values that we should fight like hell to protect.

I think about freedom as not only as the absence of oppression but also the presence of justice and joy.

To me, that is really fundamental to social justice: to have choices in life.

I stand up for all rights.

I've gone beyond civil rights and human rights to creation rights.

I build no system. I ask an end to privilege, the abolition of slavery, equality of rights, and the reign of law. Justice, nothing else; that is the alpha and omega of my argument: to others I leave the business of governing the world.

I speak not for myself but for those without voice... those who have fought for their rights... their right to live in peace, their right to be treated with dignity, their right to equality of opportunity, their right to be educated.

Freedom demands conditions of an economic, social, political and cultural kind which makes possible its full exercise.

The fundamental democratic principles on which American Society is organized, are those principles of justice and mercy by which the guilty, the ignorant, the needy, and the infirm, are saved and blessed.

I hope that liberty and equality and opportunity lie within your heart because the hopes of millions of Americans depend on it.

Up you mighty race. You can accomplish what you will! Build your future on these foundations: Freedom, Justice and Equality.

You are the stars and the world is watching you. By your presence you send a message to every village, every city, every nation. A message of hope. A message of victory. The right to play on any playing field? You have earned it. The right to study in any school? You have earned it. The right to hold a job? You have earned it. The right to anyone's neighbor? You have earned it.

The vision of Israel's prophets became the pillar of fire leading the struggle in support of the weak and the different towards equality.

Human rights must work to uplift human dignity.

I don't care if you're Christian, you're Muslim, you're gay, you're straight - I am here to fight for your equality. Because I believe that we are all born equal, but we are not treated equally, and that is why we must fight.

We all want equality, we all want to be loved, we all want to have the full potential and opportunity to grow and to participate fully in our societies.

You never completely have your rights, one person, until you all have your rights.