P. J. O'Rourke Quotes

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'Rourke

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Quotes to Explore

• When I first met Elvis, we had so much in common and became fast friends.

  

  Wayne Newton
  • Friends
  • Common
  • Fast

• The Doobie Brothers are one of my favorites of all time.

  

  Zac Brown Band
  • Time
  • Brothers
  • Favorites

• I'm very much a hypochondriac, worried about dying, and not having enough time to work with the people I want to work with and being fulfilled as an actor.

  

  Xavier Dolan
  • People
  • Time
  • Work

• I can give you a six-word formula for success: Think things through - then follow through.

  

  Eddie Rickenbacker
  • Think
  • Success
  • Follow

• In a lot of ways, I envy someone like Omar Sharif who lived in a hotel for decades.

  

  Viggo Mortensen
  • Envy
  • Lived
  • Hotel

• I always had dreams as a kid. I definitely sat at home and watched the Oscars every year and got emotional every year at everyone's speeches.

  

  Yvonne Strahovski
  • Home
  • Emotional
  • Dreams

• I enjoyed climbing with other people, good friends, but I did quite a lot of solo climbing, too.

  

  Edmund Hillary
  • People
  • Good
  • Friends

• Doo-wop is the true music to me, man. Doo-wop was what nurtured me and grew me into who I am, and I guess even when I was in school, the teacher probably thought I had ADD or something every day, because I'd be beating on the desks, singing like the Flamingos or the Spaniels or Clyde McPhatter or somebody.

  

  Aaron Neville
  • Music
  • School
  • True

• As a developing musician, skiffle became a platform for me to start playing music.

  

  Van Morrison
  • Music
  • Me
  • Start

• Without doubt, machinery has greatly increased the number of well-to-do idlers.

  

  Karl Marx
  • Doubt
  • Without
  • Machinery

• Challenging and highlighting abusive power dynamics in our culture is my goal; replicating them is not.

  

  Kara Walker
  • Power
  • Culture
  • Goal

• Just as soaps were very pivotal in the transition from radio to television, they will be right in the thick of things again in the transition from television to the Internet. Exciting news.

  

  Cameron Mathison
  • Internet
  • News
  • Transition

• When George W. Bush entered office, the national debt was $5 trillion. When he left, it was $10 trillion. I think the administration spent too much money.

  

  Ted Cruz
  • Money
  • Think
  • Debt

• For me, with music, there is no half-stepping. This is my calling.

  

  Yolandi Visser
  • Music
  • Me
  • Calling

• I would love to work with Matt Damon.

  

  Idina Menzel
  • Work
  • Love
  • Would

• I like to play a strong woman, but a strong woman can also be very fragile and vulnerable at the same time.

  

  Carice van Houten
  • Time
  • Strong
  • Strong Woman

• Stealing things is a glorious occupations, particularly in the art world.

  

  Malcolm Mclaren
  • World
  • Art
  • Stealing

• I needed to purge myself of all the attention my parents had given me – I wasn't neglected enough as a child.

  

  Captain Beefheart
  • Parents
  • Attention
  • Child

• I'm an electronic guy, I'm a freak for electronic music but real instruments, the dynamic range of it, and the emotions, there's no comparison.

  

  Armin van Buuren
  • Music
  • Real
  • Guy

• I am a huge fan of gays. They love me, and I love them. They think of me as sort of a gay icon.

  

  Tori Spelling
  • I Love
  • Fan
  • Gays

• Whenever people ask me what the story is for my next film, I won't tell and people feel it's because I'm being secretive or something, but it's actually because I'm ashamed to sum up a film in three sentences.

  

  Abbas Kiarostami
  • People
  • Up
  • Me

• When I came to Chicago, I didn't even know what improvisation meant, as far as pertaining to comedy. I knew about Second City, but I didn't know what the word 'improvisation' meant.

  

  Matt Besser
  • City
  • Comedy
  • Chicago

• I picked a name that was a combination of an island name and a very English name. Havana was one choice and Dominico was another, but I liked the combination of Jamaica Kincaid.

  

  Jamaica Kincaid
  • English

• 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'Rourke
  • People
  • Real
  • Bad