Master of the Senate (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, #3)

by Robert A. Caro

“Making a speech on economics is a lot like pissing down your leg. It may seem hot to you, but it never does to anyone else.”

“the purveyors of perfection,” as he came to call them, “are dangerous when they … move self-righteously to dominate. There are those who live by the strict rule that whatever they think right is necessarily right. They will compromise on nothing.… These rigid minds, which arise on both the left and the right, leave no room for other points of view, for differing human needs.… Pragmatism is the better method.”

functions like a Greek tragedy,” Paul Douglas was to say. “All the action takes place offstage, before the play begins.

“A fight is worthwhile even if you know you’re going to lose it,” he told Ross. “It’s the only way to crystallize attitudes, educate people. And in the end I’ve seen many hopeless causes win out.”