“Rhetoric is no substitute for reality.”

It doesn’t matter how smart you are unless you stop and think.

The welfare state is the oldest con game in the world. First you take people’s money away quietly and then you give some of it back to them flamboyantly.

If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 50 years ago, a liberal 25 years ago and a racist today.

Many on the political left are so entranced by the beauty of their vision that they cannot see the ugly reality they are creating in the real world.

Some of the biggest cases of mistaken identity are among intellectuals who have trouble remembering that they are not God.

Failure is part of the natural cycle of business. Companies are born, companies die, capitalism moves forward.

The history of which peoples, nations, or civilizations have conquered or enslaved which other peoples, nations, or civilizations has been largely a history of who has been in a position to do so.

The fact that so many successful politicians are such shameless liars is not only a reflection on them, it is also a reflection on us. When the people want the impossible, only liars can satisfy.

Freedom must be distinguished from democracy, with which it is often confused.

One of the first things taught in introductory statistics textbooks is that correlation is not causation. It is also one of the first things forgotten.

What is ominous is the ease with which some people go from saying that they don’t like something to saying that the government should forbid it. When you go down that road, don’t expect freedom to survive very long.

The only people I truly envy are those who can play a musical instrument and those who can eat anything they want without gaining weight.

If people in the media cannot decide whether they are in the business of reporting news or manufacturing propaganda, it is all the more important that the public understand that difference, and choose their news sources accordingly.

No matter how much people on the left talk about compassion, they have no compassion for the taxpayers.

One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain.

Economics is more than just a way to see patterns or to unravel puzzling anomalies.

People are very adamant about maintaining a certain sound or a certain era, like, “There were three years of rap that were great, so let’s just keep doing that.” The genre itself is just stuck in place. It’s been treading water for a while.

The alleycats manipulate the blocks with gutter magic

If I had interesting things to say, I would have been a speechwriter.

I’ve been able to sell records still. I want to be the guy that stands out there and says thank you personally to everyone. And I try after my shows and kick it because I want to genuinely say thanks.

The only bridge I’ve ever burned along this legacy

I’ve been able to tour because of my music and I’ve learned a lot about myself while on the road. I think some of the imagery of my writing are snapshots of where I’ve been and my feelings about the world.

I think it gets to musicians’ heads a lot of the time. Just because people like your records doesn’t mean what you have to say is going to be interesting.

The older I get, the less I care about what’s cool. I realize I’m old and weird.