Quotes by P. J. O'Rourke

P. J. O'Rourke

American journalist

Lived from: 1947 -

Category: Media

Quotes 1 till 20 of 22.

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  • Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.
    ― P. J. O'Rourke
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  • Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.
    ― P. J. O'Rourke
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  • Automobiles are free of egotism, passion, prejudice and stupid ideas about where to have dinner. They are, literally, selfless. A world designed for automobiles instead of people would have wider streets, larger dining rooms, fewer stairs to climb and no smelly, dangerous subway stations.
    ― P. J. O'Rourke
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  • Farm policy, although it's complex, can be explained. What it can't be is believed. No cheating spouse, no teen with a wrecked family car, no mayor of Washington, D.C., videotaped in flagrant has ever come up with anything as farfetched as U.S. farm policy.
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  • Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
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  • Government proposes, bureaucracy disposes. And the bureaucracy must dispose of government proposals by dumping them on us.
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  • I am a journalist and, under the modern journalist's code of Olympian objectivity (and total purity of motive), I am absolved of responsibility. We journalists don't have to step on roaches. All we have to do is turn on the kitchen light and watch the critters scurry.
    ― P. J. O'Rourke
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  • I like to think of my behavior in the sixties as a ''learning experience.'' Then again, I like to think of anything stupid I've done as a ''learning experience.'' It makes me feel less stupid.
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  • In our brief national history we have shot four of our presidents, worried five of them to death, impeached one and hounded another out of office. And when all else fails, we hold an election and assassinate their character.
    ― P. J. O'Rourke
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  • Marijuana is self-punishing. It makes you acutely sensitive, and in this world, what worse punishment could there be?
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  • Maybe a nation that consumes as much booze and dope as we do and has our kind of divorce statistics should pipe down about ''character issues.'' Either that or just go ahead and determine the presidency with three-legged races and pie-eating contests. It would make better TV.
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  • Never be unfaithful to a lover, except with your wife.
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  • Newsmen believe that news is a tacitly acknowledged fourth branch of the federal system. This is why most news about government sounds as if it were federally mandated - serious, bulky and blandly worthwhile, like a high-fiber diet set in type.
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  • No drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the sources of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.
    ― P. J. O'Rourke
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  • Nothing bad is going to happen to us. If we get fired, it's not failure; its a midlife vocational reassessment.
    ― P. J. O'Rourke
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  • One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it's remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver's license.
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  • Politics are for foreigners with their endless wrongs and paltry rights. Politics are a lousy way to get things done. Politics are, like God's infinite mercy, a last resort.
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  • Social Security is a government program with a constituency made up of the old, the near old and those who hope or fear to grow old. After 215 years of trying, we have finally discovered a special interest that includes 100 percent of the population. Now we can vote ourselves rich.
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  • The Middle Eastern states aren't nations; they're quarrels with borders.
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  • When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators.
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What are the most famous quotes from P. J. O'Rourke?

The two most famous quotes from P. J. O'Rourke are:

  • "Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power."
  • "Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power."

When did P. J. O'Rourke live?

P. J. O'Rourke is still alive and was born in 1947.