"Any jackass can kick a barn down. It takes a real carpenter to build one." what did he mean by this

Question

"Any jackass can kick a barn down. It takes a real carpenter to build one."When Lyndon B. Johnson said this what did he mean by it?? Was he referring to a certin subject or person?

Answer 1

probably. he basically means that any1 can destroy sumthing but it takes sum1 with skill and will power 2 create.

Answer 2

I gave this a few minutes of thought, first, while Jesus may have been a carpenter, I don't think the Bible has any verses describing anything he made/built/put together so you may not want to hire a contractor without references. My Dad was a carpenter, but he died, and he's not god he stayed dead, and he's not Jesus either he took great pains to teach me Irish tales and "Stuff" and for some reason I can't fathom, The Kalevala. So I am not the son but the daughter of a Catholic/heathen carpenter, I speak some French, mostly insults. But I also am not a deity and I am on the east Coast and so completely useless to you. and the moral of the story is apparently not all deities that operate hammers are equal. Please tell me those French directions have pictures and Screaming about Satan should be reserved for Sunday morning. That way it's over before I'm conscious.

Answer 3

I think he meant that anyone can destroy something. Therefore they aren't anything special. They are just being a burden to society because they are taking away from it instead of contributing. However, a person who can build something or any person that can do anything productive at all. Each talent someone has is more rare, because not everybody has it. It is helping society, and is looked upon higher because it is actually doing good in the world. That person is making something out of themselves, instead of waisting away like the person kicking something down.

Answer 4

Being a child at the time, I'm not sure, however, most likely, remembering what I do of LBJ, he was probably referring to someone in the opposition party who had ticked him off and was complaining about his policies, or in some other way, 'kicking a barn down.'

Answer 5

well he means that the guy on jackass.. yeah he can kick a barn down so easy.. but then if he wants to be a carpetnter he can build a barn so that the jackass can kick it down again

Answer 6

In its largest sense, Johnson meant that cvilization always struggles to move forward and improve itself, an act requiring the goodwill of millions of souls, while it takes only a single miscreant, like Hitler, to send civilization spiralling into a dark abyss, at the cost of millions of lives.

Vulgar man, that Lyndon Johnson, but perceptive in his down-home, crackerbarrel way.

Answer 7

It is a Mark Twain quote, but I don't know the details on when or why he said it...

Answer 8

it means that any leader can destroy his or her own nation easly, However It takes a great leader to help his or her country progress and become a better place for all of its citizens. To me we have not had such leader since FDR.

Answer 9

That it's a lot harder to build something than it is to tear it down.

Answer 10

don't know .but he was the biggest jackass there ever was