Quotes From "Master Of The Senate" By Robert A. Caro

1
People who sneer at a half a loaf of bread have never been hungry." George Reedy Robert A. Caro
2
He not only had the gift of “reading” men and women, of seeing into their hearts, he also had the gift of putting himself in their place, of not just seeing what they felt but of feeling what they felt, almost as if what had happened to them had happened to him, too. Robert A. Caro
3
The air of compromise is rarely appreciated fully by men of principle. C. Vann Woodward Robert A. Caro
4
With Johnson, you never quite knew if he was out to lift your heart or your wallet. Roy Wilkins Robert A. Caro
5
He is not the leader of great causes, but the broker of little ones. Robert A. Caro
6
The breath of life of the Senate is, of course, continuity, Robert A. Caro
7
Their anxiety, justified or not, was genuine, Robert A. Caro
8
Old men want to feel that the experience which has come with their years is valuable, that their advice is valuable, that they possess a sagacity that could be obtained only through experience– a sagacity that could be of use to young men if only young men would ask. Robert A. Caro
9
Lyndon Johnson’s sentences were the sentences of a man with a remarkable gift for words, not long words but evocative, of a man with a remarkable gift for images, homey images of a vividness that infused the sentences with drama. Robert A. Caro
10
(LBJ) had what a journalist calls “a genius for analogy”– made the point unforgettably, in dialect, in the rhythmic cadences of a great storyteller. Master of the senate Robert A. Caro
11
He could be as memorable an orator as his father, particularly when he was speaking on that topic that had captured his imagination; Robert A. Caro
12
Sam Rayburn on LBJ's recuperation from his heart attack: "It would kill him if he relaxed. Robert A. Caro
13
He took the trolley instead of the bus because it was smoother and he could read on it. Robert A. Caro
14
That speech (Daniel Webster's) “raised the idea of Union above contract or expediency and enshrined it in the American heart. Robert A. Caro
15
Its size, the House was an environment in which, as one observer put it, members “could be dealt with only in bodies and droves. Robert A. Caro
16
While Lyndon Johnson was not, as his two assistants knew, a reader of books, he was, they knew, a reader of men– a great reader of men. Robert A. Caro
17
The most important thing a man has to tell you is what he’s not telling you, ” he said. “The most important thing he has to say is what he’s trying not to say. Robert A. Caro
18
He could follow someone’s mind around, and get where it was going before the other fellow knew where it was going. Robert A. Caro
19
Recalling his mother’s endless drudgery, (Senator) Richard (Russell) Jr. was to say that he was ten years old before he saw his mother asleep; previously, he had “thought that mothers never had to sleep. Robert A. Caro