Government proposes, bureaucracy disposes. And the bureaucracy must dispose of government proposals by dumping them on us.
P. J. O'RourkeRead
Anyway, no drug, not even alcohol, causes the fundamental ills of society. If we're looking for the source of our troubles, we shouldn't test people for drugs, we should test them for stupidity, ignorance, greed and love of power.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Society's real issues stem from human traits, not substances.
In this quote, P. J. O'Rourke argues that societal problems are not primarily caused by drugs or alcohol, but rather by negative human qualities such as ignorance, greed, and a desire for power. He suggests that addressing these intrinsic issues might be more beneficial than focusing on substance use, which often distracts from the root causes of our troubles.
Themes
SocietyIgnoranceGreedPowerStupidity
In practice
Example use cases
This quote could be referenced in a discussion on societal reform.
More from P. J. O'Rourke
All quotes →Always read something that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.
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Predicting innovation is something of a self-canceling exercise: the most probable innovations are probably the least innovative.
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I spend my days kneeling in the muck of language, feeling around for gooey verbs, nouns, and modifiers that I can squash together to make a blob of a sentence that bears some likeness to reason and sense.
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Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine.
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The idea of a news broadcast once was to find someone with information and broadcast it. The idea now is to find someone with ignorance and spread it around.
P. J. O'RourkeRead
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