MOLLY IVINS QUOTES

Molly Ivins (1946-2007) was a political commentator with a sharp wit—a take-no-prisoners critic of what she considered silly, outrageous, or unfair. Molly Ivins was based in Texas, and both loved and made fun of her state and its culture and politicians.

Here are some of her quotations:

  • “The first rule of holes: when you’re in one, stop digging.”
  • “What you need is sustained outrage….there’s far too much unthinking respect given to authority.”
  • “The best thing about democracy is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion.”
  • “Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful.’
  • “I believe that ignorance is the root of all evil. And that no one knows the truth.”
  • “You can’t ignore politics, no matter how much you’d like to.”
  • “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.”
  • “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.”
  • “There’s never been a law that didn’t have a ridiculous consequence in some unusual situation; there’s probably never been a government program that didn’t accidentally benefit someone it wasn’t intended to. Most people who work in government understand that what you do about it is fix the problem—you don’t attack the whole government.”
  • “I still believe in Hope—mostly because there’s no such place as Fingers Crossed, Arkansas.”
  • “Any nation that can survive what we have lately in the way of government is on the high road to permanent glory.”
  • “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.”
  • From her last column, January 11, 2007: “We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we’re for them and trying to get them out of there.”
  • Source: womenshistory.about.com/od/quotes/a/molly_ivins.htm