Sam Rayburn Quotes

No one has a finer command of language than the person who keeps his mouth shut.

Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.

The real actor has a direct line to the collective heart.

Readiness for opportunity makes for success. Opportunity often comes by accident; readiness never does.

I will not deny that there are men in the district better qualified than I to go to Congress, but gentlemen, these men are not in the race.

Let the other fellow get the headlines. I'll take the laws.

Don't try to go too fast. Learn your job. Don't ever talk until you know what you're talking about... If you want to get along, go along.

There's no education in the second kick of a mule

Poverty only tries men's souls. It is loneliness that breaks the heart.

There are no degrees in honorableness. You either are or you aren't.

If you want to get along, go along.

Don't ever talk until you know what you're talking about...

They may be just as intelligent as you say. But I'd feel a helluva lot better if just one of them had ever run for sheriff.

When you get too big a majority, you're immediately in trouble.

Any man who will cheat for you will cheat against you.

You'll never get mixed up if you simply tell the truth. Then you don't have to remember what you have said, and you never forget what you have said.

If a man has common sense, he has all the sense there is.

A damn independent boy; independent as a hog on ice.

Too many critics mistake the deliberations of the Congress for its decisions.

I like power and I like to use it.

Son, always tell the truth. Then you'll never have to remember what you said the last time.

Any jackass can kick down a barn but it takes a good carpenter to build one.