Sam Rayburn Quotes

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

Do not wait for extraordinary circumstances to do good action; try to use ordinary situations.

I like power and I like to use it.

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.

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

If you want to get along, go along.

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

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

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

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.'

You cannot be a leader, and ask other people to follow you, unless you know how to follow, too.

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.