Bruno Prior's Quotes

Terrifying help

The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.

Ronald Reagan

PJ O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores, p.8

"Our founding fathers lacked the special literary skills with which modern writers on the subject of government are so richly endowed. When they wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, they found themselves more or less forced to come to the point. So clumsy of thought and pen were the Founders that even today, seven generations later, we can tell what they were talking about", Parliament of Whores

PJ O'Rourke

PJ O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores, p.5a

"Imagine if all of life were determined by majority rule. Every meal would be a pizza. Every pair of pants, even those in a Brooks Brothers suit, would be stone-washed denim. Celebrity diet and exercise books would be the only thing on the shelves at the library. And - since women are a majority of the population - we'd all be married to Mel Gibson", Parliament of Whores (1991)

PJ O'Rourke

PJ O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores, p.5

"Majority rule is a precious, sacred thing worth dying for. But - like other precious, sacred things, such as the home and family - it's not only worth dying for; it can make you wish you were dead", Parliament of Whores

PJ O'Rourke

PJ O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores, p.3-4

"Our government gets more than thugs in a protection racket demand, more even than discarded first wives of famous rich men receive in divorce court. Then this government, swollen and arrogant with pelf, goes butting into our business", Parliament of Whores

PJ O'Rourke

PJ O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores, p.3

"What is this oozing behemoth, this fibrous tumour, this monster of power and expense hatched from the simple human desire for civic order? How did an allegedly free people spawn a vast, rampant cuttlefish of dominion with its tentacles in every orifice of the body politic?" Parliament of Whores

PJ O'Rourke

PJ O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores (6)

"Everyone with any sense and experience in life would rather take is fellows one by one than in a crowd. Crowds are noisy, unreasonable and impatient. They can trample you easier than a single person can. And a crowd will never buy you lunch", Parliament of Whores, Preface

PJ O'Rourke

PJ O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores (5)

"A little government and a little luck are necessary in life, but only a fool trusts either of them", Parliament of Whores, Preface

PJ O'Rourke

PJ O'Rourke, Parliament of Whores (3)

"Politics are a lousy way for a free man to get things done. Politics are, like God's infinite mercy, a last resort", Parliament of Whores, Preface to the British Edition

PJ O'Rourke