More from P. J. O'Rourke
The most brilliant satire of all time was ‘A Modest Proposal’ by Jonathan Swift. You’ll notice how everything got straightened out in Ireland within days of that coming out.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke America wasn’t founded so that we could all be better. America was founded so we could all be anything we damned well pleased.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke The minute somebody joins a committee… they immediately suffer from committee brain. They become wildly over-enthusiastic, over-optimistic, over-pessimistic. Committees turn people into idiots, and politics is a committee.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke The beauty of democracy is that an average, random, unremarkable citizen can lead it.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Once you’ve built the big machinery of political power, remember you won’t always be the one to run it.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke A humorist doesn’t really do that much note-taking.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Stupid is a great force in human affairs.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke By the end of the 1950s, American cars were so reliable that their reliability went without saying even in car ads. Thousands of them bear testimony to this today, still running on the roads of Cuba though fueled with nationalized Venezuelan gasoline and maintained with spit and haywire.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke My dad died when I was young; my mom remarried with more haste than sense to a fellow… he wasn’t evil or anything, but he was worthless.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Politics is a necessary evil, or a necessary annoyance, a necessary conundrum.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Richard Nixon was the best thing that ever happened to journalism. I mean this guy was wonderful. Just when you thought he could get no worse, he got worse.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke I look around my house, and everything except the kids and dogs was made in China. And I’m not sure about the kids. They have brown eyes and small noses.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke The good news is that, according to the Obama administration, the rich will pay for everything. The bad news is that, according to the Obama administration, you’re rich.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Some people have facts; these can be proven. Some people have theories; these can be disproven. But people with opinions are mindless and have their minds made up about it.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke The whole idea of our government is this: If enough people get together and act in concert, they can take something and not pay for it.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke People think the free market is a philosophy, they think that it is a creed. It is none of those things. Free market is a bathroom scale, it is a measuring tape, it’s simply a measurement.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke
Original quotes
From our community writers
How strange that our hearts heal from the same thing that broke it -love.
Cailin HargreavesCailin Hargreaves The peak of intensity is numbness not emotionless.
Anamika GargAnamika Garg She is everything and nothing at all.
Ava NicoleAva Nicole She built her castle at rock bottom.
Harriet SelinaHarriet Selina Keep growing into yourself.
Sophia JoanSophia Joan They tell you to be grateful for what you have. But you are also allowed to be sad for what you have lost.
Sabina LauraSabina Laura what the sky is to a bird is like a dream for a dreamer.
Safna SulaimanSafna Sulaiman The Red Rose on my grave shows once I was in love.
Moses AlexanderMoses Alexander
Meet the writers
More on jail
I ain’t going to jail no more. The only way we gonna stop them white men from whuppin’ us is to take over. What we gonna start sayin’ now is Black Power!
Stokely CarmichaelStokely Carmichael There are very few people who have committed more to the pro-life discourse than Rob has. He’s spent time in jail. He has really lived it.
Abigail DisneyAbigail Disney But Ash, I can’t continue to want you from a distance. To love you and not have you. I’d end up in jail if anyone tried to touch you and God forbid you tried to date someone.
Abbi GlinesAbbi Glines The second time I went to jail, I was like, ‘Okay, this is not the move.’
The Notorious B.I.G.The Notorious B.I.G. I’d rather go to jail than give the hunters a penny.
Brigitte BardotBrigitte Bardot We should seek out all the doors which still remain ajar, however slight the opening might be.
Angela DavisAngela Davis Jail and the streets go hand in hand. You can’t have one with out the other. They coincide.
Kevin GatesKevin Gates Jails and prisons are designed to break human beings, to convert the population into specimens in a zoo – obedient to our keepers, but dangerous to each other.
Angela DavisAngela Davis
