“Monsieur l’abbe, I detest what you write but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.” (Note how the great French wit is teasing the priest, whose writing is so hilariously awful that it’s “to die for.”) But sometimes misquotes are worse than inaccurate ones. Sometimes quotations are twisted with malice. Former President Dwight Eisenhower’s choice for Secretary of Defense, President of General Motors Charles E. Wilson, is supposed to have told the committee at his Senate confirmation hearing, “What’s good for GM is good for America.” Edited By P.J. O'Rourke EAT THEIR WORDS A BRIEF COLLECTION OF QUOTATIONS ABOUT (OR PERTAINING TO) POLITICS
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I’ve been collecting quotations about politics for almost half a century. I’m interested in what the wise and the wiseacres have to say on a subject that is – at the same time – so foolish and no laughing matter. I’ve tried to make these quotations as accurate (and as accurately sourced) as possible. Many sayings come to us shrunken or distorted with age. For example, Voltaire never said... “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” What Voltaire said, in a letter to the extremely conservative Catholic priest M. Le Riche, was...
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October 2021
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