Peace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.
Lyndon B. JohnsonRead
You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, "you are free to compete with all the others," and still justly believe that you have been completely fair. We seek not just legal equity but human ability, not just equality as a right and a theory but equality as a fact and equality as a result.
Interpretation
What this quote means
True equality requires more than just legal rights; it demands that everyone has the real opportunity to succeed.
This quote emphasizes that simply granting freedom or legal equality is not sufficient for true fairness in society. It asserts that without addressing underlying inequalities and ensuring that all individuals have the necessary resources, support, and opportunities to compete on an equal footing, one cannot claim to have achieved true justice or fairness. Johnson highlights the need for a deeper understanding of equality that encompasses both rights and real-world capabilities.
Themes
EqualityJusticeOpportunityFairnessLiberation
In practice
Example use cases
During a speech on civil rights, this quote could be used to emphasize the need for socioeconomic support for marginalized communities.
More from Lyndon B. Johnson
All quotes →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.
Lyndon B. JohnsonRead
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.
Lyndon B. JohnsonRead
You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.
Lyndon B. JohnsonRead
If government is to serve any purpose it is to do for others what they are unable to do for themselves.
Lyndon B. JohnsonRead
I seldom think of politics more than eighteen hours a day.
Lyndon B. JohnsonRead
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