Molly Ivins was a renowned journalist, author and commentator known for her work in politics.
She started her career in 1964 at The Houston Chronicle and made history as the first female police reporter in Minneapolis.
She later worked at The New York Times, Dallas Times-Herald and Fort Worth Star-Telegram and also freelanced for major magazines and broadcasts.
Ivins wrote six best-selling books, mainly on politics and was a three-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
She received several awards, including the IWMF Lifetime Achievement Award and was active in Amnesty International and the ACLU. In 2001, she was elected to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences.
I have chosen few of her best quotes for you.
Top Molly Ivins Quotes & Sayings
1. “Most of us think of government as them. Yet the government isn’t Them: It’s us.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
2. “Many a time freedom has been rolled back – and always for the same sorry reason: fear.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
3. “And the funny thing is, I’ve always been an optimist – it’s practically a congenital disorder with me.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
4. “Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
5. “You could probably prove, by judicious use of logarithms and congruent triangles, that real life is a lot more like soap opera than most people will admit.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
6. “On the whole, I prefer not to be lectured on patriotism by those who keep offshore maildrops in order to avoid paying their taxes.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
7. “The first rule of holes: When you’re in one stop digging.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
8. “What we have here, fellow citizens, is a crassly egocentric, raving twit.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
9. “Bad policies, stupid policies, gutless policies have real consequences.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
10. “I know: “Guns Don’t Kill People.” But I suspect that they have something to do with it. If you point your finger at someone and say, “Bang, bang, you’re dead,” not much actually happens.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
11. “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).
12. “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).
13. “Texas is a fine place for men and dogs, but hell on women and horses.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
14. “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).
15. “There is no inverse relationship between freedom and security. Less of one does not lead to more of the other. People with no rights are not safe from terrorist attack.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
16. “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).
17. “Rank imperialism and warmongering are not American traditions or values. We do not need to dominate the world.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
18. “Listen to the people who are talking about how to fix what’s wrong, not the ones who just work people into a snit over the problems. Listen to the people who have ideas about how to fix things, not the ones who just blame others.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
19. “Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
20. “Freedom fighters don’t always win, but they’re always right.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
21. “It’s hard to convince people that you’re killing them for their own good.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
22. “I don’t so much mind that newspapers are dying – it’s watching them commit suicide that pisses me off.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
23. “I have been attacked by Rush Limbaugh on the air, an experience somewhat akin to being gummed by a newt. It doesn’t actually hurt, but it leaves you with slimy stuff on your ankle.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
24. “Naturally, when it comes to voting, we in Texas are accustomed to discerning that fine hair’s-breadth worth of difference that makes one hopeless dipstick slightly less awful than the other. But it does raise the question: Why bother?” ~ (Molly Ivins).
Popular Molly Ivins Quotes
25. “I still believe in Hope – mostly because there’s no such place as Fingers Crossed, Arkansas.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
26. “Anyone who thinks humans are not capable of so fouling their own nest that the land and the waters can no longer be productive just hasn’t been paying attention.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
27. “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).
28. “Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
29. “Americans are not getting screwed by the Republican Party. They’re getting screwed by the large corporations that bought and own the Republican Party.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
30. “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).
31. “I’ve always found it easier to be funny than to be serious.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
32. “You can’t ignore politics, no matter how much you’d like to.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
33. “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).
34. “Any nation that can survive what we have lately in the way of government, is on the high road to permanent glory.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
35. “I think of Texas as the laboratory for bad government.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
36. “Texas liberals are the camels of good news. We can cross entire deserts between oases.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
37. “Either we figure out how to keep corporate cash out of the political system or we lose the democracy.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
38. “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).
39. “I think most of us become nicer as we get older, less judgmental, less full of certitude; life tends to knock a few corners of us as we go through. Cancer, divorce, teenagers, and other plagues make us give up on expecting ourselves – or life – to be perfect, which is a real relief.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
40. “We’ve had trickle down economics in the country for ten years now, and most of us aren’t even damp yet.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
Famous Molly Ivins Quotes
41. “The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
42. “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).
43. “He was so narrow minded he could see through a keyhole with both eyes.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
44. “Mostly, Texas women are tough in some very fundamental ways. Not unfeminine, nor necessarily unladylike, just tough!” ~ (Molly Ivins).
45. “So keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds…” ~ (Molly Ivins).
46. “Michael Jackson was a poor black boy who grew up to be a rich white woman.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
47. “When Michael Jackson, a poor black boy who grew up to be a rich, white woman, married Elvis Presley’s daughter the Scientologist. Makes you proud to be an American, dudn’t it?” ~ (Molly Ivins).
48. “As they say around the Texas Legislature, if you can’t drink their whiskey, screw their women, take their money, and vote against ’em anyway, you don’t belong in office.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
49. “Democracy requires a certain relish for confusion.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
50. “If his IQ slips any lower, we’ll have to water him twice a day.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
51. “I believe that ignorance is the root of all evil. And that no one knows the truth.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
52. “I know vegetarians don’t like to hear this, but God made an awful lot of land that’s good for nothing but grazing.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
53. “Humanism is not alive and well in Texas. Different colors and types of Texans do not like one another, nor do they pretend to.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
54. “Nice is a pallid virtue. Not like honesty or courage or perseverance. On the other hand, in a nation notably lacking in civility, there is much to be said for nice.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
55. “Some days, I’d feel better with Punxsutawney Phil in the Oval Office – at least he doesn’t lie about the weather.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
56. “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).
Best Molly Ivins Quotes
57. “It’s hard to argue against cynics – they always sound smarter than optimists because they have so much evidence on their side.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
58. “You look at the large problems that we face – that would be overpopulation, water shortages, global warming and AIDS, I suppose – all of that needs international cooperation to be solved.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
59. “Oh, hell, I can’t go on a spiritual journey – I’m constipated.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
60. “If you ever get to the place where injustice doesn’t bother you, you’re dead.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
61. “One function of the income gap is that the people at the top of the heap have a hard time even seeing those at the bottom. They practically need a telescope. The pharaohs of ancient Egypt probably didn’t was a lot of time thinking about the people who build their pyramids, either.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
62. “Sometimes I think Texas exists as a reality check for those who might wander too far toward the precious.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
63. “Politics is not a picture on a wall or a television sitcom that you can decide you don’t much care for.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
64. “As I have pointed out time and again, it’s a hell of a lot cheaper to send little kids to school than it is to let them grow up into young thugs who have to be sent to prison, not to mention the savings in the wear and tear on the nerves, property, and safety of the rest of the citizenry.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
65. “My friend Mercedes Pena made me get in touch with my emotions just before I had a breast cut off. Just as I suspected, they were awful. “How do you Latinas do this all the time in touch with your emotions?” I asked her. “That’s why we take siestas,” she replied.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
66. “The myth of the inevitability of economic globalization is based largely on the work of Milton Friedman, and easily the most underreported story of our time is that the current economy proves Friedman flatly wrong.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
67. “Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please pay attention.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
68. “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).
69. “If an armed nation were a polite nation, America would be paradise. We have more than 200 million guns in private ownership here. But our manners are not getting better.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
Short Molly Ivins Quotes
70. “Sit up, join up, get on line, get in touch, find out who’s raising hell and join them. No use waiting on a bunch of wussy politicians.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
71. “As for George Bush of Kennebunkport, Maine- personally I think he’s further evidence that the Great Scriptwriter in the Sky has an overdeveloped sense of irony.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
72. “Having breast cancer is massive amounts of no fun. First they mutilate you; then they poison you; then they burn you. I have been on blind dates better than that.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
73. “I think provincialism is an endemic characteristic with mankind, I think everybody everywhere is provincial, but it is particularly striking with Texans, and we tend to be very Texcentric.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
74. “One thing that corporations do not do is give out money out of the goodness of their hearts.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
75. “I never saw anything funnier than Texas politics.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
76. “California is now close to spending more on prisons than it does on higher education – surely the death warrant of a civilization.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
77. “Populism is the simple premise that markets need to be restrained by society and by a democratic political system. We are not socialists or communists, we are proponents of regulated capitalism and, I might add, people who have read American history.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
78. “With politicians, artful evasion is always preferable to the outright lie.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
79. “Conservatives have been mad at the Supreme Court since it decided to desegregate the schools in 1954 and seen fit to blame the federal bench for everything that has happened since then that they don’t like.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
80. “Good thing we’ve still got politics in Texas – finest form of free entertainment ever invented.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
81. “Texas is not a civilized place. Texans shoot one another a lot. They also knife, razor, and stomp one another to death with some frequency. And they fight in bars all the time.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
82. “Carl Parker observes, if you took all the fools out of the Lege, it wouldn’t be a representative body anymore.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
Inspiring Molly Ivins Quotes
83. “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).
84. “Behind a smoke screen of high-profile female appointees and soothing slogans, George W. Bush is waging war on women.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
85. “In city rooms and in the bars where newspeople drink, you can find out what’s going on. You can’t find it in the papers.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
86. “Reading Ehrenreich is good for the soul.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
87. “Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
88. “Being slightly paranoid is like being slightly pregnant – it tends to get worse.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
89. “The victor in the Democratic primary was State Senator Bill Sarpalius, who got a leg up one night in January when a disgruntled patriot slugged him so hard it broke his jaw and the jaw had to be wired shut for most of the campaign. For most politicians, that would constitute an electoral handicap, but since Sarpalius is not bent over double with intellect, it proved a boon. He’s a tall, nice-looking, apple-cheeked fellow, and if you don’t have to listen to him, he looks good.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
90. “In the first place, any group of folks willing to make asses of themselves in pursuit of a good time should be commended and encouraged: The spirit of human frolic needs all the help it can get.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
91. “The recent death of Gene McCarthy reminded me of a lesson I spent a long, long time unlearning, so now I have to re-learn it. It’s about political courage and heroes, and when a country is desperate for leadership. There are times when regular politics will not do, and this is one of those times.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
92. “He inspired all around him with awe at his work habits: According to several Reagan aides, in the wake of the Iran-contra scandal, there was serious talk of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office because he wouldn’t come to work – all he wanted to do was watch movies and television.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
93. “Manners are just a formal expression of how you treat people.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
94. “The odd thing about these television discussions designed to “get all sides of the issue” is that they do not feature a spectrum of people with different views on reality: Rather, they frequently give us a face-off between those who see reality and those who have missed it entirely. In the name of objectivity, we are getting fantasy-land.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
95. “I am not anti-gun. I’m pro-knife. Consider the merits of the knife. In the first place, you have to catch up with someone in order to stab him. A general substitution of knives for guns would promote physical fitness. We’d turn into a whole nation of great runners. Plus, knives don’t ricochet. And people are seldom killed while cleaning their knives.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
96. “Conservatives are fond of pointing out there are problems in this world can’t be solved by throwing money at them. There are even more that can’t be solved by dropping bombs on them.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
97. “All right, all right, so I love Lubbock. I never claimed to have exquisite taste. I’ll be there with the diehards to the end, trying to explain, “No, this is a griddle with some Monopoly houses on it: this is Lubbock.” Still, the life of all us Lubbock-lovers would be a lot easier if the Chamber of Commerce hadn’t adopted the slogan “Keep Lubbock Beautiful.” Keep?” ~ (Molly Ivins).
98. “I believe in practicing prudence at least once every two or three years.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
99. “The advantage of being able to identify sin is that you can go out and do it, and enjoy it.” ~ (Molly Ivins).
