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

March 19, 2025
Simplicity rarely loses to complexity in battles in the public square.
August 5, 2025
00:40
[On being prime minister] Sometimes the strain is awful, you have to resort to Jane Austen.
November 15, 2025
All ceremonial is ridiculous unless it is perfect.
Page 67 of 122