When the government runs out of lenders, it can do something that households are forbidden to do: print money. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work, and then they get elected and prove it. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
We'll run this planet as we please, and if you don't like it, go back where we came from. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make it stop. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
In a free country, government is a dull and onerous responsibility. It is a parent-teacher conference. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
A world government run by the UN will be like getting an old, purblind, half-deaf substitute teacher. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
The question nowadays is not what makes government work. The question is how do we make it stop. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
What would annoy the most people most often? That is the true left-wing test of government intervention. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
A politician who commends himself as 'caring' and 'sensitive' because he wants to expand the government's charitable programs is merely saying that… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
The budget doesn't have much control over the government. Then again, the government doesn't have much control over the budget. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
It is a law of governance that democracies have to spend themselves dizzy. Citizens of democracies can, after all, tell their government… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
Government does not cause affluence. Citizens of totalitarian countries have plenty of government and nothing of anything else. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
The inherent purpose of American government is let people seek their own goals and to encourage them to be responsible on the… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
In the language of politics, there is only one translation for the phrase 'hope and change,' to wit: 'big, fat government.' — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
I think it's always easy to be sympathetic to parts of the government in detail; in their concrete manifestations. Because obviously, we… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
The difference between corporations and governments is governments have a monopoly on force. It's a lot easier to vote with your feet… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
The government is huge, stupid, greedy and makes nosy, officious and dangerous intrusions into the smallest corners of life - this much… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
Government subsidies can be critically analyzed according to a simple principle: You are smarter than the government, so when the government pays… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
Even the dumber parts of our government are not run by idiots. These are ordinary people like us, doing a job. By… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
There are twenty-seven specific complaints against the British Crown set forth in the Declaration of Independence. To modern ears they still sound… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
You know, if government were a product, selling it would be illegal. ... Government contains impure ingredients - as anybody who's looked… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
The three branches of government number considerably more than three and are not, in any sense, 'branches' since that would imply that… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
If we're going to improve the environment, the first thing we should do is duck the government. The second thing we should… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
[Friedrich] Hayek is not protesting that things like child labor and stuff are good. He's just trying to show that when government… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
When government does, occasionally, work, it works in an elitist fashion. That is, government is most easily manipulated by people who have… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
I'd known the people at Rolling Stone for a while. I'd gone to them with a piece I'd done on Beirut for… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
Government isn't a good way to solve problems ... [G]overnment is concerned mostly with self-perpetuation and is subject to fantastic ideas about… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
Seriously. It was running out at Rolling Stone. First of all, they didn't feel the need for a dissident conservative voice in… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
Think of what big governments have gotten up to in this century : not one, but two world wars, the gulag, the… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
Government conspiracy? They can't even deliver our mail and it's got our address on it and everything! — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
In theory, taxes should be like shopping. What I buy is government services. What I pay are my taxes. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
Distracting a politician from governing is like distracting a bear from eating your baby. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
War expands government powers. The trouble is that, when the war goes away, the government powers do not. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
If we're free to do what we want, why does government always have a plan for us? — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share Image
In comparative terms, there's no poverty in America by a long shot. Heritage Foundation political scientist Robert Rector has worked up figures showing that… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share
The Democrats said, "We don't know what's wrong with America, but we can fix it." The Republicans said, "There's nothing wrong with America, and… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share
At Epcot Center the Disney corporation has focused its attention on two things greatly in need of Disneyfication: the tedious future and the annoying… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share
So-called Western Civilization, as practised in half of Europe, some of Asia and a few parts of North America, is better than anything else… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share
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,… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share
Gun violence has cost us too many political leaders, and hardly ever the worst ones. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share
Pete Seeger is a modest, unassuming, cheerful, and kind-natured man. He's a good folk singer, if you can stand folk singing. And he's such… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share
Journalists are notoriously easy to kid. All you have to do is speak to a journalist in a very serious tone of voice, and… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share
I like to think of my behavior in the sixties as a 'learning experience.' Then again, I like to think of anything stupid I've… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share
I'll be 56 this year, I've got two kids, and I think it's probably time to go back to writing one-glove jokes. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share
Something that comes to us, some gym shoe that comes to us as a result of child labor from a brutal dictatorship, where people… — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share
Russians not only vehemently despise blacks, they believe Africa begins at the Ukraine border. — P. J. O'Rourke Copy Share
![“[Friedrich] Hayek is not protesting that things like child labor and stuff are good. He's just trying to show that when government undertakes to make everything good for everybody, this is what happens. And he addresses it to socialists of all parties.” quote by P. J. O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/eb8/p-j-o-rourke-184_addresses_friedrich-hayek-is-not-protesting-that-t_2267567.png)
![“Government isn't a good way to solve problems ... [G]overnment is concerned mostly with self-perpetuation and is subject to fantastic ideas about its own capabilities. ... [G]overnment is wasteful of the nation's resources, immune to common sense and subject to pressure from every half-organized…” quote by P. J. O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/9b8/p-j-o-rourke-184_average_government-isn-t-a-good-way-to-solve-pro_2807755.jpg)
![“Seriously. It was running out at Rolling Stone. First of all, they didn't feel the need for a dissident conservative voice in a world where certain conservative aspects had become intellectually dominant. I would actually argue against that, but on the surface of it, in the [Bill] Clinton years…” quote by P. J. O'Rourke](https://sms4smile.com/q/img-quotes/cb5/p-j-o-rourke-184_20th-century_seriously-it-was-running-out-at-rolling_1366968.jpg)
