Adam Smith's huge failure was the fact that he did not foresee the industrial revolution. P. J. O'Rourke Failure
The Communist bloc of old was a study in the failure of failure. Losers in the Soviet economy were the people at the end of the long lines for consumer goods. Worse losers were the people who had spent hours getting to the head of the line, only to be told that the goods were unavailable. P. J. O'Rourke Failure
Ideology, politics and journalism, which luxuriate in failure, are impotent in the face of hope and joy. P. J. O'Rourke Failure
If we heard that somebody starved to death in Sweden or Switzerland, we would be shocked. P. J. O'Rourke Death
Don't send funny greeting cards on birthdays or at Christmas. Save them for funerals, when their cheery effect is needed. P. J. O'Rourke Christmas
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. P. J. O'Rourke Car
The good news is that, according to the Obama administration, the rich will pay for everything. The bad news is that, according to the Obama administration, you're rich. P. J. O'Rourke Politics
I like Michael Moore, but I think of him more as a rabble-rouser. On his TV show, when he went to the home of the guy who invented the car alarm and set off all the car alarms on the block... pretty funny. P. J. O'Rourke Car
Teasing and a sense of humor, if you can develop that in your kids, and if you can exercise it with the kids, just makes for a pleasanter atmosphere. P. J. O'Rourke Humor
The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it. P. J. O'Rourke Politics
Cars let us out of the barn and, while they were at it, destroyed the American nuclear family. As anyone who has had an American nuclear family can tell you, this was a relief to all concerned. P. J. O'Rourke Car
By the end of the 1950s, American cars were so reliable that their reliability went without saying even in car ads. Thousands of them bear testimony to this today, still running on the roads of Cuba though fueled with nationalized Venezuelan gasoline and maintained with spit and haywire. P. J. O'Rourke Car
Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys. P. J. O'Rourke Money
The car provided Americans with an enviable standard of living. You could not get a steady job with high wages and health and retirement benefits working on the General Livestock Corporation assembly line putting udders on cows. P. J. O'Rourke Car
I think that humor has become a principle means of communication among Americans about politics. P. J. O'Rourke Humor
When you pay a hospital bill, you're really paying two hospital bills - one bill for you because you have a job and/or insurance and can pay the hospital. and another bill, which is tacked onto your bill, to cover the medical expenses of someone who doesn't have a job and/or insurance and can't pay the hospital. P. J. O'Rourke Medical
Computers seem a little too adaptively flexible, like the strange natives, odd societies, and head cases we study in the social sciences. There's more opposable thumb in the digital world than I care for; it's awfully close to human. P. J. O'Rourke Computers