War Quotes by P. J. O'Rourke

27 War quotes by P. J. O'Rourke

O'Rourke’s humor cuts through the grimness of battle, and these twenty‑seven quips balance satire with keen observation. They’re a lively, thought‑provoking snapshot of his sardonic take on conflict.

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War diminishes both civil and economic rights.

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Ending wars is very simple if you surrender.

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War will exist as long as there's a food chain.

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War expands government powers. The trouble is that, when the war goes away, the government powers do not.

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Russian cars are silly. They look like imports drawn by a cartoonist for a UAW newsletter.

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When you're a war correspondent, the reader is for you because the reader is saying, 'Gee, I wouldn't want to be doing…

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America's grossly unfair tax system won't lead to class war. Or, if it does, the war will be brief.

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I covered the Lebanese civil war. I could see a place that had once been prosperous and now was impoverished. I'm not…

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In case we have to shoot Democrats. It happened during the Civil War, and it could happen again.

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Well the planet I've got a chance to visit is Earth, and Earth's principal features are chaos and war. I think I'd…

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Happy hour is slightly different in the Soviet Union. There are no ice cubes or orange-peel twists in the vodka. Also, it…

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Greatest generation came through some stuff that we can't even imagine - the Depression, World War I - and all they wanted…

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The great thing about being a print journalist is that you are permitted to duck. Cameramen get killed while the writers are…

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There's no telling what might have happened to our defense budget if Saddam Hussein hadn't invaded Kuwait that August and set everyone…

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I can understand why mankind hasn't given up war. During a war you get to drive tanks through the sides of buildings…

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I suspect the soviets never did want to use those bombs. The most Stalinist of Soviet hard-liners - Stalin, for example -…

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Disney's House of the Future had the clean simplicity prized in the 1950s as relief from decades of frayed patchwork, jury-rigging, and…

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The Arab peoples possess an ancient and highly developed civilization that is in many ways more sophisticated than our own. For instance,…

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The divorce rate in 1946 was higher than it ever had been and as high as it ever would be until the…

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Think of what big governments have gotten up to in this century : not one, but two world wars, the gulag, the…

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Seriously. It was running out at Rolling Stone. First of all, they didn't feel the need for a dissident conservative voice in…

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Off they go on this sort of camping trip to Iwo Jima, where they're taken around and shown where all the battles…

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The importance of local governance may not be obvious to an America accustomed to treating city and state downfalls with doses of…

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Generally it's not a good idea to wear Banana Republic - type khaki journalist clothes in a war zone. You might look…

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With the war in Iraq, I had the cooperation of the Department of Defense. Kuwait was pretty eager to get American journalists…

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The commies are the only people on earth who think Star Wars will work. If they're that gullible, maybe we should have…

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Iran and Iraq have been at war for five years now. The traditional present for a fifth anniversary is wood. Here's a…

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I'm fascinated by political enthusiasm.

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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…

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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…

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At Epcot Center the Disney corporation has focused its attention on two things greatly in need of Disneyfication: the tedious future and the annoying…

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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…

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My whole family can talk. They are all car salesmen. They are all funny.

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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,…

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Gun violence has cost us too many political leaders, and hardly ever the worst ones.

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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…

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Journalists are notoriously easy to kid. All you have to do is speak to a journalist in a very serious tone of voice, and…

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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…

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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.

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Something that comes to us, some gym shoe that comes to us as a result of child labor from a brutal dictatorship, where people…

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Russians not only vehemently despise blacks, they believe Africa begins at the Ukraine border.

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Now, do I think the baby boomers tend to be self-absorbed? I do.

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