We need a government, alas, because of the nature of humans.
Author
P. J. O'Rourke
85 quotations
About P. J. O'Rourke
Patrick Jake O'Rourke was an American author, journalist, and political satirist who wrote twenty-two books on subjects as diverse as politics, cars, etiquette, and economics. His books Parliament of Whores and Give War a Chance both reached No. 1 on The New York Times bestseller list.
Read on Wikipedia → Find books by P. J. O'RourkeI think it's been hard for people to understand how Islam can be a good religion, and yet the Islamists are evil. Those of us who have had experience with Islam understand this, just as we understand…
You can't get rid of poverty by giving people money.
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.
There is one thing women can never take away from men. We die sooner.
Staying married may have long-term benefits. You can elicit much more sympathy from friends over a bad marriage than you ever can from a good divorce.
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, igno…
Children must be considered in a divorce considered valuable pawns in the nasty legal and financial contest that is about to ensue.
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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.
Ideology, politics and journalism, which luxuriate in failure, are impotent in the face of hope and joy.
I like making things. I have a wood shop at home. I am a terrible carpenter but I love doing it.
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.
One of the enduring problems with certain societies in the world - and this is certainly true of a lot of places in the Middle East - is that the capacity for self-governance and self-organizing just…
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 essenti…
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 ass…
Nobody likes insurance companies, especially health insurance companies.
Positive rights are the right to shelter, the right to education, the right to health care, the right to a living wage. These things are - these are, I would call them, more properly, political right…
If you are young and you drink a great deal it will spoil your health, slow your mind, make you fat - in other words, turn you into an adult.
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.
Hubris is one of the great renewable resources.
The great thing about being a print journalist is that you are permitted to duck. Cameramen get killed while the writers are flat on the floor. A war correspondent for the BBC dedicated his memoir to…
If you are young and you drink a great deal it will spoil your health, slow your mind, make you fat - in other words, turn you into an adult.
The inherent purpose of American government is let people seek their own goals and to encourage them to be responsible on the various adventures they have on their way to those goals, good, bad, and …
We need a government, alas, because of the nature of humans.
What would annoy the most people most often? That is the true left-wing test of government intervention.