Quotes Library

September 7, 2025

If you want to get along, go along.

Sam Rayburn (1882–1961), American politician, The Cynic’s Lexicon, Jonathon Green, ed. (London: 1986), p.173

How will you make a name for yourself if you just go along, to get along? How strong is the desire to stand out from the rest of the pack, and to what end?

If a majority is what carries the vote on any issue, going along is an absolute necessity. If you cannot park your ideals, if practical approaches are anathema, if you view the perfect as preferable to the possible, you’re in the wrong career.


More Quotes

August 13, 2025
Better we lose the election than mislead the people.
July 30, 2025
People come to Washington believing it’s the center of power.
September 1, 2025
Politicians neither love nor hate. Interest, not sentiment, directs them.
Page 12 of 122