I like to do my principal research in bars, where people are more likely to tell the truth or, at least, lie less convincingly than they do in briefings and books.
O'Rourke, P.J. (1989), Holidays in hell. London (Picador), 212
P. J. O'Rourke Frases famosas
There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.
The Liberty Manifesto (1993)
And worrying is less work than doing something to fix the worry. [...] Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.
All the Trouble in the World: The Lighter Side of Overpopulation, Famine, Ecological Disaster, Ethnic Hatred, Plague, and Poverty - página 9, Por P. J. O'Rourke, Publicado por Atlantic Monthly Press, 1995, ISBN 0871136112, 9780871136114, 340 páginas
When a government controls both the economic power of individuals and the coercive power of the state ... This violates a fundamental rule of happy living: Never let the people with all the money and the people with all the guns be the same people.
O'Rourke, P. J. (1999). Eat the Rich: A Treatise on Economics (1st edition ed.). New York: Atlantic Monthly Press. pp. 272 pp.. 978-0-87113-760-9.
There is no virtue in compulsory government charity, and there is no virtue in advocating it. A politician who portrays himself as caring and sensitive because he wants to expand the government's charitable programs is merely saying that he is willing to do good with other people's money. Well, who isn't? And a voter who takes pride in supporting such programs is telling us that he will do good with his own money — if a gun is held to his head.
O'Rourke, P. J. (1996). Why I Am a Conservative (1st edition ed.). Second Thoughts Books. pp. 24 pp.. 978-1886442085.
P. J. O'Rourke frases e citações
Government subsidies can be critically analyzed according to a simple principle: You are smarter than the government, so when the government pays you to do something you wouldn't do on your own, it is almost always paying you to do something stupid.
All the Trouble in the World (1994)
I've always figured that if God wanted us to go to church a lot He'd have given us bigger behinds to sit on and smaller heads to think with.
O'Rourke, P.J. (1989), Holidays in hell. London (Picador), 90
Some people are worried about the difference between right and wrong. I'm worried about the difference between wrong and fun.
O'Rourke, P.J. (1989), Holidays in hell. London (Picador), 125
Violence is interesting. This is a great obstacle to world peace and also to more thoughtful television programming.
O'Rourke, P.J. (1994), All the trouble in the world. The lighter side of famine, pestilence, destruction and death. Sydney (Picador), 249
People who are wise, good, smart, skillful, or hardworking don't need politics, they have jobs.
O'Rourke, P.J. (1994), All the trouble in the world. The lighter side of famine, pestilence, destruction and death. Sydney (Picador), 198
One of the annoying things about believing in free will and individual responsibility is the difficulty of finding somebody to blame your problems on. And when you do find somebody, it's remarkable how often his picture turns up on your driver's license.
Rolling Stone (30 de Novembro de 1989 http://books.google.com/books?id=4cl5c4T9LWkC&pg=PA347&lpg=PA347&dq=%22the+annoying+things+about+believing+in+free+will+and+individual+responsibility%22&source=bl&ots=87tHwdgxHT&sig=t-cX3HtpzKcKAd5GztMu4YkLLgM&hl=en&ei=Jl7OSvzgFpCMtgemntGEBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CBwQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%22the%20annoying%20things%20about%20believing%20in%20free%20will%20and%20individual%20responsibility%22&f=false)
You can't get good Chinese takeout in China and Cuban cigars are rationed in Cuba. That's all you need to know about communism.
Give War a Chance (1992)
When a private entity does not produce the desired results, it is (certain body parts excepted) done away with. But a public entity gets bigger.
All the Trouble in the World (1994)
“Seu dinheiro não causa minha pobreza. Recusar isso está na base do pior pensamento econômico.”
Your money does not cause my poverty. Refusal to believe this is at the bottom of most bad economic thinking.
All the Trouble in the World (1994)
P. J. O'Rourke: Frases em inglês
The Liberty Manifesto (1993)
"Letter to Our European Friends" (4 February 2008)
“People who are wise, good, smart, skillful, or hardworking don't need politics, they have jobs.”
All the Trouble in the World (1994)
“Fishing … is a sport invented by insects and you are the bait.”
Republican Party Reptile (1987)
All the Trouble in the World (1994)
“When a thing defies physical law, there's usually politics involved.”
All the Trouble in the World (1994)
“It's hard to come back from the Balkans and not sound like a Pete Seeger song.”
All the Trouble in the World (1994)
As quoted in Busted : Stone Cowboys, Narco-lords, and Washington's War on Drugs (2002) edited by Mike Gray
“Earnestness is just stupidity sent to college.”
Holidays in Hell (1989)
All the Trouble in the World (1994)
“War will exist as long as there's a food chain.”
Holidays in Hell (1989)
Modern Manners (1983)
“The Australian language is easier to learn than boat talk. It has a vocabulary of about six words.”
Holidays in Hell (1989)
“There are a lot of mysterious things about boats, such as why anyone would get on one voluntarily.”
Holidays in Hell (1989)
“Two key rules of Third World travel: 1. Never run out of whiskey. 2. Never run out of whiskey.”
All the Trouble in the World (1994)