Finland is a rich country. What have they got? They got Nokia phones and plywood. How’d they get so rich? Because they’re free. – P. J. O’Rourke
Conservatives really don’t believe in politics as the primary instrument of getting along in life and therefore don’t tend to put their energy into it a way people left of center do. – P. J. O’Rourke
Art Nouveau got its inspiration from nature. The Bauhaus got its inspiration from engineering. – P. J. O’Rourke
China is trying to become America without democracy while America is trying to become France without cheese calories. – P. J. O’Rourke
Americans are good at pursuing happiness. And the Americans who pursue happiness most diligently show that we’re also good at running it down and killing it. – P. J. O’Rourke
Mikhail Gorbachev was the Jimmy Carter of the Communist bloc. The Russians hate him. – P. J. O’Rourke
The anti-individualist enemies that Ayn Rand battled are still the enemy, but they’ve shifted their line of attack. Political collectivists are no longer much interested in taking things away from the wealthy and creative. – P. J. O’Rourke
The divorce rate in 1946 was higher than it ever had been and as high as it ever would be until the ’70s. The reason was that prior relationships had not endured the strain of war. – P. J. O’Rourke
The inherent purpose of American government is let people seek their own goals and to encourage them to be responsible on the various adventures they have on their way to those goals, good, bad, and otherwise. – P. J. O’Rourke
The real purpose of welfare is to get rid of poor people entirely. Everybody knows welfare has bad effects; that’s the point. – P. J. O’Rourke
Children must be considered in a divorce considered valuable pawns in the nasty legal and financial contest that is about to ensue. – P. J. O’Rourke
The difference between American parties is actually simple. Democrats are in favor of higher taxes to pay for greater spending, while Republicans are in favor of greater spending, for which the taxpayers will pay. – P. J. O’Rourke
I have no idea if some societies, anthropologically speaking, aren’t really suited for democracy. I don’t think that’s true. – P. J. O’Rourke
The idea of capitalism is not just success but also the failure that allows success to happen. – P. J. O’Rourke
I don’t think anybody’s really been successful with theorizing about value or creating a price theory. – P. J. O’Rourke
Little islands of human happiness, peace, and prosperity are so exceptional at this point in history that I’m not even sure we can draw lessons from them. – P. J. O’Rourke
Toledo is better than exciting, it’s happy. Because nothing is more conducive to unhappiness than taking yourself seriously, and taking yourself seriously is difficult when you’re baseball team is the Mud Hens. – P. J. O’Rourke
Distracting a politician from governing is like distracting a bear from eating your baby. – P. J. O’Rourke
The library, with its Daedalian labyrinth, mysterious hush, and faintly ominous aroma of knowledge, has been replaced by the computer’s cheap glow, pesky chirp, and data spillage. – P. J. O’Rourke