LBJ (2016)

Lady Bird Johnson: Don't you just love Texas? Is there anywhere else you'd rather be?

Senator Ralph Yarborough: I should tell you I have not changed my position in the slightest.
Lyndon B. Johnson: No problem. No problem at all. But, listen, while I got you here, there is one question... I've been meaning to ask you. Have you got shit for brains?

Senator Ralph Yarborough: We should be doing a heck of a lot more for the people who have less.
Lyndon B. Johnson: The only thing more irritating than a liberal is a liberal from Texas.

Lyndon B. Johnson: I'll endorse whoever wins our party's nomination.
Bobby Kennedy: And there's no chance that'll be you, correct?
Lyndon B. Johnson: How many different ways you want me to answer that?
Bobby Kennedy: One would suffice.
Lyndon B. Johnson: I have zero intention of running for president.

Lyndon B. Johnson: I wanna know why you're putting these signs up... For starters, Johnson has not said that he's running for president... The reason I know is because I'm fucking him! No, I'm not fucking him, I am him!

Walter Jenkins: He's the best Senate majority leader this country's ever had. He works harder than the other 99 senators combined. He doesn't understand why he's not the party's favorite. He doesn't understand why they don't just hand it to him.
Lyndon B. Johnson: Nobody gets handed the presidency...
Walter Jenkins: Why won't he commit?
George Reedy: That's complicated.
Walter Jenkins: He's afraid.
George Reedy: Of what?
Walter Jenkins: Hell, every politician's afraid people won't vote for him.
Lady Bird Johnson: He's afraid people won't love him.

Lady Bird Johnson: When father first met you, he said: "Daughter, you brought home a lot of boys. This time, you brought home a man."
Lyndon B. Johnson: At least he liked me right away.

Walter Jenkins: Ten of 36?
George Reedy: Of the 36 men who have been vice president... 10 have gone on to become president.

Walter Jenkins: Kennedy loses, the majority leader will be the most powerful Democrat in the country. Kennedy wins, the majority leader will still be... the most powerful Democrat in Congress. There's just no power in the vice presidency.
Lyndon B. Johnson: Walter, how long you been with me?
Walter Jenkins: Twenty-one years.
Lyndon B. Johnson: And in 21 years, can you think of a time that I have taken over a new office... and not made it 100 times more powerful than when I got there?
Walter Jenkins: No, sir.
Lyndon B. Johnson: Power is where power goes.
George Reedy: So, what are you saying? When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade?
Lyndon B. Johnson: No, George, I'm saying, sometimes, you think the Lord is giving you lemons... and, in fact, he's giving you big, beautiful titties.

Walter Jenkins: Which side are you on?
Lyndon B. Johnson: You're missing the point. As long as neither side declares all-out war, both sides need me. The best thing that can happen for me is this civil rights debate goes on forever.
George Reedy: And how do we make that happen, sir?
Lyndon B. Johnson: Compromise, boys. Endless compromise.

Lyndon B. Johnson: What did Abe Lincoln say after he woke up from a three-day drunk?
Senator Richard Russell: I don't know.
Lyndon B. Johnson: "I freed the what?"

Lyndon B. Johnson: I'm not saying that you're not right about this... but you need to do a little bit more on this one. You're gonna have to hire some nigras.
Senator Richard Russell: Well, who do you think mops the floors?
Lyndon B. Johnson: I'm not talking about janitors. I'm talking about engineers, skilled labor.
Senator Richard Russell: Show me a skilled one first.

Lyndon B. Johnson: The Kennedy did get elected by appealing to the colored man. Now, if we play this right, we're gonna have those nigras... voting Democrat the next 200 years.
Senator Richard Russell: You want me to surrender? What are you doing?
Lyndon B. Johnson: No. I am asking you... I'm begging you... to give these Kennedys a little something just to quiet them down.

Senator Richard Russell: The Kennedys attended private schools their entire lives. Now they wanna talk about equality. Voluntary integration is one thing, but don't you think that I... as an American citizen, shouldn't be forced to eat a hamburger... next to someone in a restaurant I don't wanna bump elbows with?
Lyndon B. Johnson: Dick, I think it is unconscionable... that you, as an American citizen, should ever... be forced to eat a hamburger.

Senator Richard Russell: I don't find this topic amusing.
Lyndon B. Johnson: Well, here's where I get confused. A baby calf is born. It grows into a cow, lives on a farm, gets slaughtered... butchered, packaged, shipped, cooked... and finally served to you. Most, if not all, those steps required the hands of black men. Why is it that when it comes time to eat it... you can't stomach the notion of sitting next to a black man while you chew?

Senator Richard Russell: "If the law can compel me to hire a negro... it can compel a negro to work for me. And such a law would do nothing more than enslave a minority." And that's what one senator had to say about civil rights legislation.
Lyndon B. Johnson: That's probably Strom Thurmond. He's an asshole and a moron.
Senator Richard Russell: No, it was you. 1949, your first speech on the Senate floor. Ha. You spoke for over an hour in opposition to a civil rights bill just like this one. I remember watching you speak, thinking to myself: "This young man's the future of the South..."

Senator Richard Russell: Look, what I'm talking about here is freedom. I'm talking about the preservation of a way of life. A way of life that you and I both grew up with. There's nothing wrong with that.
Lyndon B. Johnson: Then why are we whispering?

Senator Richard Russell: Mr. President... Mr. President. In this dark hour of our nation's history... we must remember to give thanks for our blessings. Because out of the despicable ashes of a presidential assassination... a new leader has emerged. And we're all here to offer our support. After a century of persecution, a century of being treated as inferior... after 100 long years... we finally have one of our own leading this nation. America has a Southern president! And we could think of no finer representative for our people.

Lyndon B. Johnson: I'm pleased to see you back at work already. The Constitution put me in the White House... but there's no law to make you stay here with me.

Lyndon B. Johnson: I know you loved President Kennedy... but I need you now more than he ever did. Not that I loved Caesar less... but that I loved Rome more.
Kenny O'Donnell: I can't believe he quoted Shakespeare.
Larry O'Brien: Can't believe he quoted Brutus.

Lyndon B. Johnson: They don't... They want... They want Jack. They love Jack. They love Bobby. They... They don't even like me.

Lady Bird Johnson: You're a good man in a tight spot. President Kennedy did wonderful things for America. Not the least of which was choosing you to be his successor.
Lyndon B. Johnson: He was a man of great ideas.
Lady Bird Johnson: Now the country needs a man... who can deliver.

Lyndon B. Johnson: The personal cook of the vice president of the United States... has to drive through towns without stopping... then squat to pee by the side of the road. Hundred years ago, she would've been a slave. Hundred years from now, hell, she might be president.

Kenny O'Donnell: Four other presidents have fought Congress on this and failed.
Lyndon B. Johnson: There will be no compromise. There will be no negotiation. And there will be no failure. This time, Congress is not fighting a president. It's fighting two. Never underestimate the intensity of a martyr's cause... or the size of a Texan's balls.

Ted Sorensen: Do you really believe he can accomplish all this?
Walter Jenkins: I do.
Ted Sorensen: How can he?
Walter Jenkins: The same way he always has.

Senator Richard Russell: I think I'm done drinking with you. You hurt the very people who made you who you are. And for what?
Lyndon B. Johnson: Civil rights is an idea whose time has come.
Senator Richard Russell: This will define your presidency.
Lyndon B. Johnson: I can only hope.

Lyndon B. Johnson: We've been talking about this forever, and we never say a damn thing.
Senator Richard Russell: Well... What...? What do you wanna say? That you're gonna turn your back on me? That you don't care about everything I've done for you? That you're willing to betray me?
Lyndon B. Johnson: That you're a racist.
Lyndon B. Johnson: Members of the House, Members of the Senate... my fellow Americans. All I have... I would have given gladly not to be standing here today. ...

Lyndon B. Johnson: Well, if we've learned anything from President Kennedy... it's that life is precious and time is fleeting. And I don't intend to waste either. Mistakes will be made, but inaction won't be one of them. John Kennedy gave people hope. Now we are gonna give them results. Let's get to work.

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+ Quotes on the IMDb