P. J. O'Rourke Quotes

It was Ronald Reagan who used to say that the 10 most frightening words in the English language are, "I'm from the federal government, and I'm here to help."

P. J. O'Rourke

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Quotes to Explore

• I was not so committed to financial success that I was willing to abandon my principles and priorities. One of the most visible examples of this is our decision to close on Sunday.

  

  S. Truett Cathy
  • Success
  • Decision
  • Financial

• Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?

  

  Abraham Lincoln
  • Friends
  • Friendship
  • Destroy

• In America, people think being South Asian is still kind of exotic. When you go outside New York and Chicago and L.A., there are people who have never tried Indian food... they've never even tasted it!

  

  Aasif Mandvi
  • People
  • America
  • Food

• We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You're always helping people.

  

  Jackie Chan
  • People
  • Hurt
  • Fight

• People should know what they want, not just what they don't want.

  

  Abdolkarim Soroush
  • People
  • Want
  • Know

• I think the best president - because he changed the whole mood of the country, the whole economy of the country, and stood up to Communism... that was continuing its causes around the world, and backed them off and caused them to collapse - and that was Ronald Reagan.

  

  Pat Boone
  • Up
  • World
  • Country

• I've always loved writing, and the impulse for me is storytelling. I don't sit down and think: 'What political message can I sell?' I love the creativity of it.

  

  Randa Abdel-Fattah
  • Writing
  • Love
  • Political

• When the British became Christian, Christianity in no way altered their political organisation.

  

  Sabine Baring-Gould
  • Political
  • Way
  • Christian

• Horrors, I believe, should be original - the use of common myths and legends being a weakening influence.

  

  H. P. Lovecraft
  • Believe
  • Influence
  • Legends

• I like certain subgenres within science fiction and fantasy, and one of those is urban fantasy, and another is steampunk.

  

  Gail Carriger
  • Science
  • Science fiction

• I was born and grew up in Fitzgerald, way down in south Georgia. It was a mill town and my family ran the cotton mill. My grandfather was mayor many times and my family felt deeply rooted to that spot.

  

  Frances Mayes
  • Up
  • Family
  • Down

• I don't want to sound disingenuous here - controversy is obviously good for business, especially if your business is satire. And it does amplify the discussion - in my view, a good thing.

  

  Garry Trudeau
  • Good
  • Business
  • Sound

• All of Hollywood was convinced that 'Gone with the Wind' would be a colossal disaster and rather hoped it would be.

  

  Olivia De Havilland
  • Wind
  • Hollywood
  • Disaster

• I have a particular image, and my customers know my line isn't going to be so trendy it will be out of style next year.

  

  Jaclyn Smith
  • Know
  • Style
  • Year

• I know that my tendency is to be linear, and I'm trying to find ways to subvert that. And so in 'Bellocq's Ophelia' my device for subverting it was to tell the story and then to tell it again; it always circles back to this one moment, and it's not linear, but it's round in that way, and much of 'Native Guard' is like that.

  

  Natasha Trethewey
  • Trying
  • Story
  • Moment

• I don't have a lot of skills, but one thing I can do is, I can compartmentalize. I can make that a little world that I can go back to, so I can be a waitress, or I can be a teacher, and then go and work on my book.

  

  Dana Spiotta
  • World
  • Work
  • Book

• All fame is is having people you don't know coming up to you and saying, 'Hello.' I'm always polite and people are always nice, but it's weird.

  

  Karl Pilkington
  • People
  • Up
  • Nice

• I like being by myself.

  

  Larry Bird
  • Myself
  • Like
  • Being

• The toughest thing about managing is knowing your personnel and what it can give you under all conditions.

  

  Walter Alston
  • You
  • Knowing
  • Give

• We used to look at each other and say, 'We play the same game with the same rules, the same bat, the same ball, the same field. What the hell does color have to do with it? You don't play with color. You play with talent.'

  

  Monford Merrill "Monte" Irvin
  • Game
  • Play
  • Talent

• I'm a big researcher. I love libraries and archives and I have a huge National Geographiccollection. I have a good amount of books and records, and I'm on the Internet. I think research yields a lot and can help you pull different discordant works that may not be harmonious. Through time and with patience and focus, you bring them all together.

  

  Xaviera Simmons
  • Time
  • Good
  • Different

• The prince who relies upon their words, without having otherwise provided for his security, is ruined; for friendships that are won by awards, and not by greatness and nobility of soul, although deserved, yet are not real, and cannot be depended upon in time of adversity.

  

  Niccolò di Bernardo dei Machiavelli
  • Words
  • Prince
  • Relies

• My family comes from Panama, and I grew up in a single parent household with my mother, who barely spoke English. She couldn't get a good job, yet there were four of us for her to raise.

  

  Bobby Lashley
  • English
  • Parent
  • My Family

• It was Ronald Reagan who used to say that the 10 most frightening words in the English language are, "I'm from the federal government, and I'm here to help."

  

  P. J. O'Rourke
  • Help
  • Words
  • English