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.
I don't have any handicap. I am all handicap.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of overcoming personal limitations and embracing one's challenges as part of one's identity.
In this quote, Lyndon B. Johnson expresses a profound sense of resilience and self-acceptance. By stating that he is 'all handicap,' he acknowledges that every individual has their own struggles and difficulties, and rather than viewing them as limitations, he sees them as intrinsic aspects of his identity. This perspective encourages others to confront their own challenges with courage and to understand that true strength lies in embracing one's vulnerabilities.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
In a motivational speech addressing students with disabilities, this quote can inspire them to embrace their uniqueness.
More from Lyndon B. Johnson
All quotes βPeace is a journey of a thousand miles and it must be taken one step at a time.
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.
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.
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.
If government is to serve any purpose it is to do for others what they are unable to do for themselves.
Similar quotes
As an old soldier, I admit the cowardice: it's as universal as seasickness, and matters just as little.
I think one thing is that anybody who's had to contend with mental illness - whether it's depression, bipolar illness or severe anxiety, whatever - actually has a fair amount of resilience in the sense that they've had to deal with suffering already, personal suffering.
But in some ways I think it's braver to do it like this. And, to an extent, you know what? The worst that can happen is that everyone says, 'Well, that was dreadful, she should have stuck to writing for kids' and I can take that. So, yeah, I'll put it out there, and if everyone says, 'Well, that's shockingly bad β back to wizards with you', then obviously I won't be throwing a party. But I will live. I will live.
War's very object is victory, not prolonged indecision. In war there is no substitute for victory.
Grab the broom of anger and drive off the beast of fear.
The ordinary man is involved in action, the hero acts. An immense difference.