Les Jones

Kelso

Monday, December 1st, 2008 | A&E, Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

“What does he have that I don’t? I mean, I have the three things women want: I’m hot and I’m smart.”
 – Michael Kelso (Ashton Kucher), “That ’70s Show”

Quotes on government and taxes

Monday, December 1st, 2008 | Political Survival Kit, Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

In comments to Tam’s post on the limits of government to bailout anyone but themselves, Divemedic offers some choice quotes.

“We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”
– Winston Churchill

“The national budget must be balanced. The public debt must be reduced; the arrogance of the authorities must be moderated and controlled. Payments to foreign governments must be reduced. If the nation doesn’t want to go bankrupt, people must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”
– Marcus Tullius Cicero

“If you have been voting for politicians who promise to give you goodies at someone else’s expense, then you have no right to complain when they take your money and give it to someone else, including themselves.”
– Thomas Sowell

Another name for black markets

Thursday, November 13th, 2008 | Economics, Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

“In societies where they tried to impose their will on the free market, or push it aside, the free market became known as the “Black Market.” The market is like water…it’ll seep in, despite your best efforts.”
 – Anonymous

Eric Posner on American Exceptionalism

Friday, November 7th, 2008 | European Union, Political Survival Kit, Quotes | Permalink | 1 Comment |

“There are two versions of American exceptionalism. American-American exceptionalism is “we’re richer because we’re better.” European-American exceptionalism is “you’re better because you’re richer.” Both sides agree on exceptionalism, and just see different causes and implications. The Europeans expect us, on account of our wealth, to live up to (their) ideals, while we think that our wealth ought to prove to them that our ideals are better than theirs.”
 – Eric Posner

Hat tip to Instapundit.

Michael Crichton on Science

Thursday, November 6th, 2008 | Quotes, Science | Permalink | No Comments |

“Once you abandon strict adherence to what science tells us, once you start arranging the truth in a press conference, then anything is possible. In one context, maybe you will get some mobilization against nuclear war. But in another context, you get Lysenkoism. In another, you get Nazi euthanasia. The danger is always there, if you subvert science to political ends. That is why it is so important for the future of science that the line between what science can say with certainty, and what it cannot, be drawn clearly-and defended.”
 – Michael Crichton, 1942-2008

Robert Heinlein on expert syndrome

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 | Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

“Expertise in one field does not carry over into other fields. But experts often think so. The narrower their field of knowledge the more likely they are to think so.”
 – Robert Heinlein

Also known as “engineer’s syndrome.” Hat tip to Kevin at Smallest Minority.

Robert Heinlein on wealth and poverty

Saturday, November 1st, 2008 | Economics, Politics, Quotes | Permalink | 1 Comment |

“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty. This is known as ‘bad luck.’”
 – Robert Heinlein

Hat tip to Instapundit.

Jay Nordlinger on Obama’s joke about Communism

Friday, October 31st, 2008 | Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

“Senator Obama said this about John McCain: ‘By the end of the week, he’ll be accusing me of being a secret communist because I shared my toys in kindergarten. I shared my peanut butter and jelly sandwich.’ That’s interesting. Obama evidently thinks of communists as people who share. I think of them as people who kill.”
 – Jay Nordlinger

Jimmy McNulty

Monday, October 27th, 2008 | Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

“Who would pretend to be a lawyer who wasn’t?”
– Jimmy McNulty, “The Wire”

Frank Herbert

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008 | Political Survival Kit, Quotes | Permalink | 1 Comment |

“If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual.”
– Frank Herbert, “The Dosadi Experiment”

Found here.

William Rusher

Monday, October 20th, 2008 | Political Survival Kit, Quotes | Permalink | 1 Comment |

“One difference between a liberal and a pickpocket is that if you demand your money back from a pickpocket he will not question your motives.”
– William Rusher

Hat tip to Tam.

Some quotes from the library that “Joe the Plumber” might enjoy:

“Politicians never accuse you of “greed” for wanting other people’s money — only for wanting to keep your own money.”
– Joseph Sobran

“A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.”
– George Bernard Shaw

“Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.”
– Frederic Bastiat

James Delingpole on global warming hysteria

Sunday, October 19th, 2008 | Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

“Global warming anxiety was a Nineties and early Noughties fad — the product of a too affluent age in search of a hair-shirt religion to assuage its guilt at having had it so good. Now that everyone has something real to worry about, cutting carbon emissions seems about as relevant as the Jitterbug or the Rubik’s Cube.”
 – James Delingpole

Fred Smith on ideologues

Friday, October 17th, 2008 | Political Survival Kit, Quotes | Permalink | 2 Comments |

“Ideologues have created far more horrors than have even the most rampant of business villains. My understanding is that Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot and Mao Tse Tung were not motivated by profits.”
 – Fred Smith

To which I would add they were also not motivated by religion, which is frequently cited by left-leaning folks as the cause of $huge percentage of wars. For the actual stats on 20th century murders see here.

• Bosnia-Herzegovina: 1992-1995 - 200,000 Deaths
• Rwanda: 1994 - 800,000 Deaths
• Pol Pot in Cambodia: 1975-1979 - 2,000,000 Deaths
• Nazi Holocaust: 1938-1945 - 6,000,000 Deaths
• Rape of Nanking: 1937-1938 - 300,000 Deaths
• Stalin’s Forced Famine: 1932-1933 - 7,000,000 Deaths
• Armenians in Turkey: 1915-1918 - 1,500,000 Deaths

John Hood on politics

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 | Political Survival Kit, Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

“Politics has no ultimate victor. It has no final, decisive battle. It just goes on and on, like soap operas and Law and Order.”
  — John Hood

William F. Buckley on Harvard

Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 | Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

“I would rather be governed by the first two thousand people in the Boston telephone directory than by the two thousand people on the faculty of Harvard University.”
 – William F. Buckley, Jr.

Mike Pence on the proposed bank bailout

Thursday, September 25th, 2008 | Quotes | Permalink | 1 Comment |

“I must tell you, there are those in the public debate who have said that we must act now. The last time I heard that, I was on a used-car lot. The truth is, every time somebody tells you that you’ve got to do the deal right now, it usually means they’re going to get the better part of the deal.”
– Mike Pence, R-Indiana

I see new bank buildings popping up everywhere. Wall Street is handing out billions in bonuses. Remind me again why we’re bailing out an industry that made bad decisions with other people’s money and lived lavishly for the past decade.

Mark Twain

Friday, September 19th, 2008 | Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

“You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.”
 – Mark Twain

Kyle Smith on public approval numbers

Thursday, September 4th, 2008 | Media Behaving Badly, Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

“Incidentally, after eight years of abuse from every conceivable corner of the political universe, President Bush’s approval rating is around 28 percent. Barack Obama, after getting the most adoring media reception conceivable for nearly two years, is at 38 percent. McCain is at 34 percent. Is “saddled with historically low approval rating” really just a way of saying, “has misfortune of being president in era of 24/7 media attacks”?”
 – Kyle Smith

Mark Steyn on Sarah Palin

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 | Politics, Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

“What other country in the developed world produces beauty queens who hunt caribou and serve up a terrific moose stew? As an immigrant, I’m not saying I came to the United States purely to meet chicks like that, but it was certainly high on my list of priorities. And for the gun-totin’ Miss Wasilla then to go on to become Governor while having five kids makes it an even more uniquely American story. Next to her resume, a guy who’s done nothing but serve in the phony-baloney job of “community organizer” and write multiple autobiographies looks like just another creepily self-absorbed lifelong member of the full-time political class that infests every advanced democracy.”
– Mary Steyn

Jay G. on Sarah Palin

Monday, September 1st, 2008 | Quotes | Permalink | 3 Comments |

“Palin’s daughter is pregnant? That changes everything for me. Palin is no longer a MILF; she’s a GMILF.”
 – Jay G.

Dr. Strangegun on veep nominee Sara Palin

Friday, August 29th, 2008 | Quotes | Permalink | 2 Comments |

“Unless McCain’s hedging bets that he’s going to die in the first 3 months of office, the “she’s my vote for president” experience argument holds absolutely no water whatsoever. VP does actually get to sit back and work with an actual sitting president, y’know. It’s better than having a sitting president run to the VP with crushing questions every 5 minutes because he doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground.”
 – Dr. Strangegun

Did I mention I’m stoked about McCain picking Palin as his veep?

Quote of the Day

Friday, August 29th, 2008 | Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

Uncle has some fine quotes from the gunblogger’s trip to Blackwater to train with Todd Jarrett. I especially liked this one:

UNCLE: She has issues.
TAMARA: No, she has subscriptions.

SPOR

Thursday, August 21st, 2008 | Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

“Nothing is stupider than litigating against people who are hiring lawyers with other people’s money.”
 – SPOR

The ignoramus’s manifesto. A LesJones.com original.

Monday, August 18th, 2008 | Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

“As far as a I know I know everything there is to know, as far as I know.”

An example.

Do you know how to rebuild a carburetor on a ‘68 Mustang?

“As far as I know there’s nothing to it, as far as I know.”

Spock

Monday, August 18th, 2008 | Quotes | Permalink | No Comments |

“After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.”
– Spock

Never question Vulcan wisdom!