P. J. O'Rourke Quotes

Our earliest evidence of government, in the ruins of Babylon and Egypt, shows nothing but ziggurats and pyramids of wasted taxpayer money, the TARP funds and shovel-ready stimulus programs of their day.

P. J. O'Rourke

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Quotes to Explore

• Few people even scratch the surface, much less exhaust the contemplation of their own experience.

  

  Randolph Bourne
  • People
  • Experience
  • Scratch

• I've never been a partier.

  

  Victoria Justice
  • Never
  • Been

• In the ordinary church, it is suppressed by respectability, by a desire to appear better than we really are.

  

  E. Stanley Jones
  • Desire
  • Church
  • Better

• Without knowing about flexibility, one cannot work out strategies to deal with the enemy and prepare for changes, and without knowing about the foundation of one's own culture, one would be contemptuous of the Confucian ethical codes.

  

  Zhang Zhidong
  • Work
  • Culture
  • Enemy

• We'll always be fascinated by people who live above the law.

  

  Wagner Moura
  • People
  • Live
  • Law

• I want to see one of my products being taken by people across the world. I want to see them improving and leading a better life. It's like playing God.

  

  Kallam Anji Reddy
  • People
  • Life
  • World

• I'm dyslexic, and it takes me longer to memorize and to embody the character so I can really own it.

  

  Octavia Spencer
  • Character
  • Really
  • Longer

• I'm kind of a sucker for the retro-diagnoses.

  

  Sam Kean
  • Kind
  • Sucker

• The Holocaust survivor who knows Auschwitz through the experience of suffering observes it all from the perspective assigned to him. He keeps silent or gives interviews to the Spielberg Foundation, he accepts the compensation payments promised him after a fifty-year delay, or, if he is prominent, he makes a speech in the Swedish Academy.

  

  Imre Kertesz
  • Experience
  • Suffering
  • Perspective

• I hope young athletes can imitate my good side only, not the bad side.

  

  Taufik Hidayat
  • Good
  • Bad
  • Hope

• A filial son to his father can be a traitorous subject to his ruler.

  

  Han Fei
  • Father
  • Son
  • Ruler

• Nocebos often cause a physical effect, but it's not a physically produced effect. What's the cause? In many cases, it's an unanswered question.

  

  Irving Kirsch
  • Question
  • Effect
  • Often

• One guy that I wish was here right now, Ted Williams, helped me so much, our long talks, not about hitting but about fishing, one of Ted's passions, and I wish he was here today to share this with me because I owe so much to Ted Williams.

  

  Wade Boggs
  • Long
  • Guy
  • Today

• I work on words, mostly, toward them being poetry or short stories, and then some of those become songs. They all find their place in the world, but they all start off in the same place. I'm always painting and drawing as well, and it's an ongoing creative assignment.

  

  P. J. Harvey
  • World
  • Work
  • Words

• It's not like I go out there to be a sex symbol. I mean, it's nice of course - but embarrassing.

  

  Daniel Craig
  • Nice
  • Mean
  • Sex

• On stage, you can use your emotions. It's the place where you can channel them. They have a purpose.

  

  Florence Welch Florence and the Machine
  • Purpose
  • Stage
  • Emotions

• We got to know the competition very well. In the '50s popcorn made a big growth in sales. Our main push was to produce the best quality and sell in quality retail outlets.

  

  Orville Redenbacher
  • Best
  • Quality
  • Growth

• People have given me the freedom and believe in me enough to say if I want to do these things that I will find a way to make it work. I don't know if they think I'm crazy, drug damaged or just an old weirdo.

  

  Wayne Coyne
  • People
  • Work
  • Believe

• I don't want to be a TV star for the sake of being on TV. I want to have a TV show that's based around my comedy.

  

  Jim Gaffigan
  • Comedy
  • Stars
  • Shows

• Yes, I've heard of the 'Mad Men' comparisons, but I like to think 'The Hour' has its own distinctive voice. Although it is set in 1956, I have tried to give it a contemporary edge, and its themes of love, passion, romance, fury, professional jealousy, and personal failure are universal, I think.

  

  Abi Morgan
  • Men
  • Passion
  • Failure

• I think competition can make people stronger at whatever it is they're competing on. If we're competing in some athletic event for competitive swimmers, really intensely competing, it's likely that both of us will become better, but it's also quite possible we'll lose sight of what's truly valuable.

  

  Peter Thiel
  • People
  • Competition

• Long Kiss Goodnight has a huge cult following. They could make another version of that movie right now and make a lot of money.

  

  Samuel L. Jackson
  • Long
  • Money
  • Movie

• Often what we do is open our house for various charity events. I don't seat according to protocol. I don't invite people because of who they are in the administration or their positions of power. The few who do come, are there because I like them.

  

  Sally Quinn
  • People
  • Power
  • House

• Our earliest evidence of government, in the ruins of Babylon and Egypt, shows nothing but ziggurats and pyramids of wasted taxpayer money, the TARP funds and shovel-ready stimulus programs of their day.

  

  P. J. O'Rourke
  • Money
  • Day
  • Government