P. J. O'Rourke Quotes

Politics is the business of getting power and privilege without possessing merit. A politician is anyone who asks individuals to surrender part of their liberty- their power and privilege- to State, Masses, Mankind, Planet Earth, or whatever. This state, those masses, that mankind, and the planet will then be run by ... politicians.

P. J. O'Rourke

• Business
• Power
• Earth

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Quotes to Explore

• I joined a radical group at the age of 16 because I'm a passionate man; the good news is that I turned myself around since then. But my character is still quite free and passionate.

  

  Maajid Nawaz
  • Good
  • Character
  • Age

• I have not been a good father, but no father has loved his children more. Like my father, I decided the best thing I could do for my kids was work and provide. Fortunately, I've been able to do that. Unfortunately, my work was on the road, and that's meant a life of one-nighters.

  

  B. B. King
  • Life
  • Good
  • Work

• This is something I've wanted to do my whole life is play baseball, and I think just the opportunity to put on a big-league uniform every day is just... you know, people dream of it, but not everybody gets to do it. I'm thankful every day I get to do it.

  

  Jacob deGrom
  • People
  • Life
  • Dream

• There's nothing wrong with constructive criticism, and I learn from that and better myself. I'm not expecting anyone to be sycophantic in any way; I never expected that.

  

  Victoria Beckham Spice Girls
  • Myself
  • Learn
  • Criticism

• Nothing is so aggravating than calmness.

  

  Oscar Wilde
  • Nothing
  • Calmness
  • Aggravating

• I just respect Kanye as an artist.

  

  Bebe Rexha
  • Respect
  • Artist
  • Just

• No one escapes from the past without bearing some of its burdens.

  

  Edmund Morgan
  • Past
  • Without
  • Some

• A woman who places a high priority on performance and excellence is seen as imperial. A man is seen as demanding and tough.

  

  Faye Wattleton
  • High
  • Man
  • Woman

• I would love the opportunity to create my own program. I feel like a TV show with a format of monologue with lots of sketches thrown in could be really fun. But you know, that may never happen. Minimally, I just want to keep making stand-up.

  

  Hari Kondabolu
  • Up
  • Love
  • May

• It's abhorrent to me that somebody is just evil, and you can't explain it.

  

  Forest Whitaker
  • Evil
  • Explain
  • Abhorrent

• Men enter local politics solely as a result of being unhappily married.

  

  C. Northcote Parkinson
  • Men
  • Politics
  • Married

• A lot of people love the idea of improvising but are terrified of it, so I tried to make a book that was not a chef's book about improvising but a real home cook's book with a real home cook's pantry, supermarket ingredients, that sort of thing.

  

  Sally Schneider
  • People
  • Real
  • Love

• There's always going to be silly stuff out there in the media that you can't worry too much about, and I don't. We just keep on trucking, and I like the way my... I think there should be 'professional is professional, and personal is personal,' and that's just how I'm going to keep it.

  

  Aaron Rodgers
  • Worry
  • Professional
  • Media

• One can be a great poet and be politically stupid.

  

  Umberto Eco
  • Great
  • Stupid
  • Poet

• Ordinarily if an actor gets chosen for the lead in a film, he or she has already built up a repertoire, and everyone knows what he or she is capable of.

  

  Zhang Ziyi
  • Up
  • She
  • Film

• Being surrounded by love and people that care about your heart is the dream. That's what I would like on my last day.

  

  Rachel Boston
  • People
  • Heart
  • Love

• I have eighteen titles in the German language. I had a number one song in 1965.

  

  Wanda Jackson
  • Song
  • Language
  • German

• I love having wine with my meals. And if I splurge, I'm going to splurge big, because if I deny my cravings, it just ends up backfiring on me, you know?

  

  Rachel Nichols
  • Know
  • Ends
  • Deny

• I wrote because I wanted to know what everything was about. My father, before I was born, had been gassed in the first World War, and I wanted to know why there were wars, why people hurt each other, why we couldn't get along together, and what made people tick. That's why I started to write stories.

  

  Madeleine L'Engle
  • People
  • World
  • Why

• When I got out of school, I didn't really understand the differences in the different aspects of the business. For example, doing a play - where does that take you versus, you know, concentrating on independent films? You might have one thing in your head, but the things you're doing don't really lead down the right road, necessarily.

  

  Chadwick Boseman
  • Different
  • School
  • Business

• There is nothing to life that has value, except the degree of power-assuming that life itself is the will to power.

  

  Friedrich Nietzsche
  • Life
  • Power
  • Value

• Unfortunately, I don't usually get to see much outside the Olympics as I compete almost every day. I have been to Rio a few times and got a tour of the sites. It is a spectacular city.

  

  Usain Bolt
  • City
  • Cities
  • Olympics

• Politics is the business of getting power and privilege without possessing merit. A politician is anyone who asks individuals to surrender part of their liberty- their power and privilege- to State, Masses, Mankind, Planet Earth, or whatever. This state, those masses, that mankind, and the planet will then be run by ... politicians.

  

  P. J. O'Rourke
  • Business
  • Power
  • Earth