Lyndon B. Johnson

Education is the key to opportunity in our society, and the equality of educational opportunity must be the birthright of every citizen.

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.

It is a truism that education is no longer a luxury. Education in this day and age is a necessity.

Poverty has many roots, but the taproot is 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.

Most of all we need an education system 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. It means an educational system which does not simply equip the students to adjust to society, but which enables the student to challenge and to modify, and at times reject, if necessary, the received wisdom of his elders.

The most crucial use of knowledge and education is to understand the importance of developing a good heart.

Learn something new every day.

All students can learn and succeed, but not on the same day in the same way.

You must work on improving your skills every day and never quit.

Education is the best provision for old age.

What is life but education, anyway?

In teaching the children at Greenfield Village, we are trying to get back some of the solid McGuffey qualities.

In a global economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity – it is a prerequisite.

I came in early every day for six months till I intercepted the letter from UCLA saying they’d never heard of me. I replaced it with a letter that said I’d graduated.

Higher education cannot be a luxury reserved just for a privileged few. It is an economic necessity for every family. And every family should be able to afford it.

As precious as knowledge itself is the learning. As precious as any reward is the earning.

I don’t care what their [Guns N’ Roses] record is. If you need a blood donor and the only person who can give you a transfusion is Hitler, you take the blood.

Economists report that a college education adds many thousands of dollars to a man’s lifetime income – which he then spends sending his son to college.

Learning carries within itself certain dangers because out of necessity one has to learn from one’s enemies.

The Supreme end of education is expert discernment in all things – the power to tell the good from the bad, the genuine from the counterfeit, and to prefer the good and the genuine to the bad and the counterfeit.