Molly Ivins famous quotes

The United States of America is still run by its citizens. The government works for us. Rank imperialism and warmongering are not American traditions or values. We do not need to dominate the world. We want and need to work with other nations. We want to find solutions other than killing people. Not in our name, not with our money, not with our children's blood.
-- Molly Ivins

#Running #Peace #Children

We've had trickle down economics in the country for ten years now, and most of us aren't even damp yet.
-- Molly Ivins

#Country #Years #Economics

Havin' fun while freedom fightin' must be one of those lunatic Texas traits we get from the water - which is known to have lithium in it - because it goes all the way back to Sam Houston, surely the most lovable, the most human, and the funniest of all the great men this country has ever produced.
-- Molly Ivins

#Country #Fun #Men

How the American right managed to convince itself that the programs to alleviate poverty are responsible for the consequences of poverty will someday be studied as a notorious mass illusion.
-- Molly Ivins

#Party #Government #Political

I learned two things growing up in Texas. 1: God loves you, and you're going to burn in hell forever. 2: Sex is the dirtiest and most dangerous thing you can possibly do, so save it for someone you love.
-- Molly Ivins

#Sex #Growing Up #Love You

Personally, I think government is a tool, like a hammer. You can use a hammer to build or you can use a hammer to destroy; there is nothing intrinsically good or evil about the hammer itself. It is the purposes to which it is put and the skill with which it is used that determine whether the hammer's work is good or bad.
-- Molly Ivins

#Thinking #Skills #Government

When politicians start talking about large groups of their fellow Americans as 'enemies,' it's time for a quiet stir of alertness. Polarizing people is a good way to win an election, and also a good way to wreck a country.
-- Molly Ivins

#Country #Winning #Talking

It's all very well to run around saying regulation is bad, get the government off our backs, etc. Of course our lives are regulated. When you come to a stop sign, you stop; if you want to go fishing, you get a license; if you want to shoot ducks, you can shoot only three ducks. The alternative is dead bodies at the intersections, no fish and no ducks. OK?
-- Molly Ivins

#Running #Fishing #Ducks

I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag.
-- Molly Ivins

#Flags #Constitution

In Texas, we do not hold high expectations for the [governor's] office; it's mostly been occupied by crooks, dorks and the comatose.
-- Molly Ivins

#Texas #Expectations #Office

Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful. I only aim at the powerful. When satire is aimed at the powerless, it is not only cruel -- it's vulgar.
-- Molly Ivins

#Powerful #Weapons #Satire

I dearly love the state of Texas, but I consider that a harmless perversion on my part, and discuss it only with consenting adults.
-- Molly Ivins

#Texas #Adults #States

I don't so much mind that newspapers are dying - it's watching them commit suicide that pisses me off.
-- Molly Ivins

#Funny #Suicide #Mind

Whenever you hear a politician carry on about what a mess the schools are, be aware that you are looking at the culprit.
-- Molly Ivins

#Teaching #School #Politician

Sometimes I think Texas exists as a reality check for those who might wander too far toward the precious.
-- Molly Ivins

#Reality #Thinking #Texas

the more a body tries to explode all the foolish myths that have grown up about Texas by telling the truth, the more a body will wind up adding to the mythology.
-- Molly Ivins

#Texas #Wind #Trying

It's like, duh. Just when you thought there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between the two parties, the Republicans go and prove you're wrong.
-- Molly Ivins

#Party #Two #Differences

What we have here, fellow citizens, is a crassly egocentric, raving twit.
-- Molly Ivins

#Citizens #Twits #Egocentric

Although it is true that only about 20 percent of American workers are in unions, that 20 percent sets the standards across the board in salaries, benefits and working conditions. If you are making a decent salary in a non-union company, you owe that to the unions. One thing that corporations do not do is give out money out of the goodness of their hearts.
-- Molly Ivins

#Heart #Giving #Boards

And the funny thing is, I've always been an optimist - it's practically a congenital disorder with me.
-- Molly Ivins

#Funny Things #Disorder #Optimist

What stuns me most about contemporary politics is not even that the system has been so badly corrupted by money. It is that so few people get the connection between their lives and what the bozos do in Washington and our state capitols.
-- Molly Ivins

#People #Connections #States

It is possible to read the history of this country as one long struggle to extend the liberties established in our Constitution to everyone in America.
-- Molly Ivins

#Country #Struggle #America

Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce.
-- Molly Ivins

#Rejoice #Ridicule

On a personal note: I have contracted an outstanding case of breast cancer, from which I intend to recover. I don't need get-well cards, but I would like the beloved women readers to do something for me: Go. Get. The. Damn. Mammogram. Done.
-- Molly Ivins

#Get Well #Cancer #Cards

Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous.
-- Molly Ivins

#Humor #Thinking #Looks

So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce.
-- Molly Ivins

#Laughter #Fun #Freedom

I still believe in Hope - mostly because there's no such place as Fingers Crossed, Arkansas.
-- Molly Ivins

#Believe #Arkansas #Fingers Crossed

He was so narrow minded he could see through a keyhole with both eyes.
-- Molly Ivins

#Sarcastic #Eye #Keyholes

I believe that ignorance is the root of all evil. And that no one knows the truth.
-- Molly Ivins

#Truth #Believe #Ignorance

One thing that corporations do not do is give out money out of the goodness of their hearts.
-- Molly Ivins

#Heart #Giving #Corporations

Margaret Atwood, the Canadian novelist, once asked a group of women at a university why they felt threatened by men. The women said they were afraid of being beaten, raped, or killed by men. She then asked a group of men why they felt threatened by women. They said they were afraid women would laugh at them.
-- Molly Ivins

#Women #Laughing #Groups

Mostly, Texas women are tough in some very fundamental ways. Not unfeminine, nor necessarily unladylike, just tough!
-- Molly Ivins

#Texas #Way #Fundamentals

Age has given me what I was looking for my entire life - it gave me me. It provided me the time and experience and failures and triumphs and friends who helped me step into the shape that had been waiting for me all my life.
-- Molly Ivins

#Waiting #Age #Shapes

Manners are just a formal expression of how you treat people.
-- Molly Ivins

#Expression #People #Manners

The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion.
-- Molly Ivins

#Confusion #Democracy #Beloved

I believe in practicing prudence at least once every two or three years.
-- Molly Ivins

#Believe #Years #Two

Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please pay attention.
-- Molly Ivins

#Texas #President #United States

Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful.
-- Molly Ivins

#Powerful #Weapons #Satire

Good thing we've still got politics in Texas - finest form of free entertainment ever invented.
-- Molly Ivins

#Texas #Political #Politics

I believe all Southern liberals come from the same starting point--race. Once you figure out they are lying to you about race, you start to question everything.
-- Molly Ivins

#Lying #Believe #Race

There are two kinds of humor. One kind that makes us chuckle about our foibles and our shared humanity -- like what Garrison Keillor does. The other kind holds people up to public contempt and ridicule -- that's what I do. Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful. I only aim at the powerful. When satire is aimed at the powerless, it is not only cruel -- it's vulgar.
-- Molly Ivins

#Powerful #Two #People

Politics is not a picture on a wall or a television sitcom that you can decide you don't much care for.
-- Molly Ivins

#Wall #Care #Television

Any nation that can survive what we have lately in the way of government, is on the high road to permanent glory.
-- Molly Ivins

#Government #Political #Way