Finland is a rich country. What have they got? They got Nokia phones and plywood. How’d they get so rich? Because they’re free.
P. J. O'ROURKE
P. J. O'ROURKE
P. J. O'Rourke on free
P. J. O'Rourke174 quotes“Finland is a rich country. What have they got? They got Nokia phones and plywood. How’d they get so rich? Because they’re free.”
More from P. J. O'Rourke
The weirder you’re going to behave, the more normal you should look. It works in reverse, too. When I see a kid with three or four rings in his nose, I know there is absolutely nothing extraordinary about that person.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke A fundamental American question is, ‘What’s the big idea?’
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke I’ve got a 1990 Porsche 911. It’s just a Carrera, a very simple, straightforward little thing that goes like stink. I love it.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Every vote should carry a serial number, so that responsibility for harmful or careless use of the vote can be traced. Concealed voting should be outlawed.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke The body is forever teaching us lessons. There are all sorts of things that we can’t do, shouldn’t do, had better not do very often or do for too long as we get older. The body makes its presence known.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke The baby boomers’ politics have covered a wide band of silliness, from the Weather Underground to the Timothy McVeigh types. The great majority of us are well in the middle of that spectrum, but still, there’s been both leftie silliness and right-wing silliness.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Never fight an inanimate object.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Political leaders are expert at saying nothing.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke They are just really stupid people in Hollywood. You write them a script, and they say they love it, they absolutely love it. Then they say, ‘But doesn’t it need a small dog, and an Eskimo, and shouldn’t it be set in New Guinea?’ And you say, ‘But it is a sophisticated romantic comedy set in Paris.’
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Political systems are run by self-selecting politicians. We don’t draft people; it’s not jury duty.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Everybody is xenophobic to an extent.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Liberals have invented whole college majors – psychology, sociology and women’s studies – to prove that nothing is anybody’s fault.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke There is only one thing that gives me hope as a Republican, and that is the Democrats. It’s going to be hard to do a worse job running American than the Republicans have, but if anybody can do it, it’s the Democrats.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke You’re never going to read ‘The Wealth of Nations,’ and you shouldn’t, really. It’s 900 pages.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Bill Clinton is not a hypocrite. If a man believes that it is just and moral to redistribute wealth, there is nothing hypocritical in his attempts to redistribute some of that wealth to himself.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke Let’s reintroduce corporal punishment in the schools – and use it on the teachers.
P. J. O'RourkeP. J. O'Rourke
Original quotes
From our community writers
My heart keeps room for you always even when you can’t be here.
Holly DuxburyHolly Duxbury You are seeing humanity at its worst and best. A collision of the circumstance.
Samantha King HolmesSamantha King Holmes Treat her like a dream. Follow her, pursue her, and always remind her that you’ll never give up on her.
Jenny AJenny A I care but I’m done trying. I love but I’m done showing.
Divya khandalDivya khandal Never feel defined by your size, measures, and beauty standards.
Jacklyn TysonJacklyn Tyson The wild is always changing like a reminder. You do not have to be the same to be beautiful.
Sabina LauraSabina Laura Bees and butterflies in my belly with you on my mind they chase each other around.
Jenny WinbladhJenny Winbladh I long for you but you long for someone else, I deny the one who wants me cause I want someone else.
Rupi KaurRupi Kaur
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More on free
Whoever is for higher taxes, feel free to pay higher taxes.
Adam CarollaAdam Carolla A charity which knows only how to give money is not yet Christian love. You will be free of guilt only when you also give your time, your energy, and your resourcefulness to help end such abuses for good,
Abraham KuyperAbraham Kuyper The objective of spiritual advancement is not so much ‘works’ but the quality of life free from ego-consciousness.
Meher BabaMeher Baba There are free men with the spirit of a slave, and slaves whose spirit is full of freedom. He who is true to his inner self is a free man, while he whose entire life is merely a stage for what is good and beautiful in the eyes of others, is a slave.
Abraham Isaac KookAbraham Isaac Kook In any free society where terrible wrongs exist, some are guilty – all are responsible.
Abraham Joshua HeschelAbraham Joshua Heschel It’s hard to be free but when it works, it’s worth it!
Janis JoplinJanis Joplin Through the long lapse of ages, that so there might be An asylum for all in the Land of the Free.
Abraham ColesAbraham Coles How can they expect me or anyone else to set them free if they don’t really want to be free?
Jim MorrisonJim Morrison