James Taranto Quotes

#1. The American people are fed up ... with political posturing.' True, but also an example of political posturing.

James Taranto

#2. Yasser Arafat remains in stable condition after dying in a Paris hospital.

James Taranto

#3. To know one's enemy is to read their mind.

Cameron Jace

#4. I'm happy that I was able to experience a normal life besides show business, because it gives you something to draw from.

Ashley Tisdale

#5. The Guardian's headline is 'How Going Green May Make You Mean.' We're inclined to think the chain of causation runs the other way - that people who are jerks to begin with gravitate toward verdant sanctimony.

James Taranto

#6. Never exceed your rights, and they will soon become unlimited.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

#7. It really matters what you listen to ... Select music that will strengthen your spirit.

Russell M. Nelson

#8. The thing we adore about these dog-whistle kerfuffles is that the people who react to the whistle always assume it's intended for somebody else. The whole point of the metaphor is that if you can hear the whistle, you're the dog.

James Taranto

#9. If my work is accepted, I must move on to the point where it is not.

John Cage

#10. Making wise decisions requires more than incentives. It requires wisdom.

James Taranto

#11. Because of racism, he can't govern effectively' is not a great argument for re-election.

James Taranto

#12. The most popular man under a democracy is not the most democratic man, but the most despotic man. The common folk delight in the exactions of such a man. They like him to boss them. Their natural gait is the goose step.

H.L. Mencken

#13. I have always been drawn to child-related causes. I find that people listen to me more when I advocate for children now that I have my own.

Jennifer Garner

#14. For gold the merchant ploughs the main,
The farmer ploughs the manor.

Robert Burns

#15. If the rest of the world likes Americans only when we're dying, the rest of the world can go to hell.

James Taranto

#16. Some libs took offense at my David Broder quip earlier. In my own defense, I was taught in college it's OK to disrespect dead white males.

James Taranto

#17. However much you study, you cannot know without action.
A donkey laden with books is neither an intellectual nor a wise man.
Empty of essence, what learning has he whether upon him is firewood or book?

Saadi