John Nance Garner

John Nance "Cactus Jack" Garner (November 22, 1868 – November 7, 1967) was a U.S. representative from Texas, the thirty-second vice president of the United States and the forty-fourth speaker of the United States House of Representatives.

Quotes

• Not worth a bucket of warm piss.
  • Comment to Lyndon B. Johnson on the vice presidency, widely attributed to Garner as early as 1964. For many years, this quote was bowdlerized(censored) as "warm spit." [1]

• Worst damnfool mistake I ever made was letting myself be elected Vice President of the United States. Should have stuck with my old chores as Speaker of the House. I gave up the second most important job in the Government for one that didn't amount to a hill of beans. I spent eight long years as Mr. Roosevelt's spare tire. I might still be Speaker if I didn't let them elect me Vice-President.
  • Comment shortly after leaving office, on leaving his post as speaker of the United States House of Representative to become the vice president, quoted by Frank X. Tolbert, "What is Cactus Jack Up to Now," Saturday Evening Post (November 2, 1963) and recounted in Alden Whitman's obituary [2] of Garner in the New York Times (November 8, 1967).

• You have to do a little bragging on yourself even to your relatives—man just doesn’t get anywhere without advertising.
  • Attributed in Forbes, August 18, 1980(Volume 126, Number 4) [3][4]