Sam Rayburn famous quotes

03-28-2025

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

#Silence #Mouths #Language
The real actor has a direct line to the collective heart.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Real #Heart #Acting
Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good carpenter to build one.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Barns #Carpenter #Jackasses
If you want to get along, go along.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Want
There's no education in the second kick of a mule
-- Sam Rayburn

#Mules #Kicks
Let the other fellow get the headlines. I'll take the laws.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Law #Headlines
There are no degrees in honorableness. You either are or you aren't.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Degrees
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.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Men #Race #Political
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.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Running #Intelligent #Political
When the concept of Social Security came before the House, every Republican but one voted against it. Had it not been for the Democrats, Social Security would never have passed, and our older people would not have this great support that our people provide. It has been my experience that Democrats generally vote to protect the people, while Republicans seem to try to protect the interests of big business.
-- Sam Rayburn

#People #House #Support
When you get too big a majority, you're immediately in trouble.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Majority #Trouble #Bigs
Son, if you can't take their money, drink their whiskey, screw their women, and then vote against 'em, you don't deserve to be here.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Son #Ems #Whiskey
Too many critics mistake the deliberations of the Congress for its decisions.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Mistake #Decision #Deliberation
Dont try to go too fast. Learn your job. Dont ever talk until you know what youre talking about. If you want to get along, go along.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Jobs #Talking #Trying
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.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Remember #Never Forget #Telling The Truth
A damn independent boy; independent as a hog on ice.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Independent #Hockey #Boys
If a man has common sense, he has all the sense there is.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Inspirational #Men #Common Sense
Poverty only tries men's souls. It is loneliness that breaks the heart.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Loneliness #Heart #Men
I like power and I like to use it.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Political #Use
In my many years as a Representative in Congress it is my observation that the district that is best represented is the district that is wise enough to select a man of energy, intelligence, and integrity and reelects him year after year. A man of this type and character serves more efficiently and effectively the longer he is returned by his people.
-- Sam Rayburn

#Wise #Integrity #Character

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