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

December 8, 2025
Political skill [is] the ability to foretell what is going to happen tomorrow, next week, next month, next year.
April 24, 2025
00:59
Generosity is part of my character, and I therefore hasten to assure this government that I will never make an allegation of dishonesty against it
October 2, 2025
In politics, there is no use looking beyond the next fortnight.
Page 26 of 123