Call a man ‘ignorant,’ and you have license to show the world your vast fund of knowledge and wise him up.
P. J. O'ROURKE
P. J. O'ROURKE
P. J. O'Rourke on him
P. J. O'Rourke174 quotes“Call a man ‘ignorant,’ and you have license to show the world your vast fund of knowledge and wise him up.”
More from P. J. O'Rourke
Ending wars is very simple if you surrender.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Will Generation X and the Millennials do a better job running the world than the boomers have? Let’s hope so.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Whatever it is that the government does, sensible Americans would prefer that the government does it to somebody else. This is the idea behind foreign policy.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke The real purpose of welfare is to get rid of poor people entirely. Everybody knows welfare has bad effects; that’s the point.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke You can’t destroy America by destroying our elite. Think about America’s elite. Think about it down through history. Destroy our elite, and about half the time, you’re doing us a favor.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke I was very much in favor of the Iraq invasion.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Preachers at black churches are the last people left in the English-speaking world who know the schemes and tropes of classical rhetoric: parallelism, antithesis, epistrophe, synecdoche, metonymy, periphrasis, litotes – the whole bag of tricks.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke The divorce rate in 1946 was higher than it ever had been and as high as it ever would be until the ’70s. The reason was that prior relationships had not endured the strain of war.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Everybody knows how to raise children, except the people who have them.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Teasing and a sense of humor, if you can develop that in your kids, and if you can exercise it with the kids, just makes for a pleasanter atmosphere.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke No humorist is under any obligation to provide answers and probably if you were to delve into the literary history of humour it’s probably all about not providing answers because the humorist essentially says: this is the way things are.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Each child is biologically required to have a mother. Fatherhood is a well-regarded theory, but motherhood is a fact.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Little islands of human happiness, peace, and prosperity are so exceptional at this point in history that I’m not even sure we can draw lessons from them.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke What Alexander Graham Bell thought up occupied less space than a flower vase. Now it’s so small that I have to search all my pockets to discover I’ve received a spam text.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke No industry in living memory has collapsed faster than daily print journalism.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke
Original quotes
From our community writers
Our only limitation is that we only believe what is visible to our eyes and audible to our ears.
Shilpa GoelShilpa Goel Some days, you will be close to the finish line and still not make it.
Sonia SabnisSonia Sabnis Life-transforming ideas have always come to me through books.
Bell HooksBell Hooks I separated someplace for each person in my heart, But she claimed to be the owner of it.
Moses AlexanderMoses Alexander Modern-day love stories are born not out of love, but a tired mind and a restless heart.
Puneet MehraPuneet Mehra Forcing things only creates more tension in the mind. Let go.
Ayaka HaseAyaka Hase It doesn’t take courage to find peace in the arms of destiny. It takes faith.
Anamika GargAnamika Garg I can’t wait to collect memories from every corner of the earth to splash in the vastness of this beautiful world.
Julia Kellogg HenryJulia Kellogg Henry
Meet the writers
More on him
It is impossible to forgive someone if you feel superior to him or her.
Timothy KellerTimothy Keller If your husband wants to lick the beaters on the mixer, shut them off before you give them to him.
Phyllis DillerPhyllis Diller The right condition for him is that in which his work in not only convenient but unavoidable.
Tennessee WilliamsTennessee Williams An artist is a creature driven by demons. He don’t know why they choose him and he’s usually too busy to wonder why.
William FaulknerWilliam Faulkner It isn’t about love,” vee said. “it’s about fun.
Becca FitzpatrickBecca Fitzpatrick When a man is ill nothing is so important to him as his own illness.
Anthony TrollopeAnthony Trollope This man belongs to me, I want him!
Bram StokerBram Stoker But look what the Church has done to Jesus during the last two thousand years. What they have made of Him. How they have turned every word He spoke for their own vile ends. Jesus would be framed and in jail if he was living today.
Carson McCullersCarson McCullers