Political Satire Quotes

Quotes tagged as "political-satire" Showing 1-30 of 44
Arun D. Ellis
“Only a psychopath would ever think of doing these things, only a psychopath would dream of abusing other people in such a way, only a psychopath would treat people as less than human just for money. The shocking truth is, even though they now have most if not all of the money, they want still more, they want all of the money that you have left in your pockets, they want it all because they have no empathy with other people, with other creatures, they have no feeling for the world which they exploit, they have no love or sense of being or belonging for their souls are dead, dead to all things but greed and a desire to rule over others.”
Arun D. Ellis, Corpalism

George Orwell
“I hate purity, I hate goodness! I don't want virtue to exist anywhere. I want everyone to be corrupt to the bones.”
George Orwell, 1984

Salman Rushdie
“It had been more than a year since the Joker’s conquest of America and we were all still in shock and going through the stages of grief but now we needed to come together and set love and beauty and solidarity and friendship against the monstrous forces that faced us. Humanity was the only answer to the cartoon. I had no plan except love. I hoped another plan might emerge in time but for now there was only holding each other tightly and passing strength to each other, body to body, mouth to mouth, spirit to spirit, me to you.”
Salman Rushdie, The Golden House

Tom Lehrer
“I don’t think this kind of thing [satire] has an impact on the unconverted, frankly. It’s not even preaching to the converted; it’s titillating the converted. I think the people who say we need satire often mean, ‘We need satire of them, not of us.’ I’m fond of quoting Peter Cook, who talked about the satirical Berlin cabarets of the ’30s, which did so much to stop the rise of Hitler and prevent the Second World War.”
Tom Lehrer

T.H. White
“The slow discovery of the seventh sense, by which both men and women contrive to ride the waves of a world in which there is war, adultery, compromise, fear, stultification and hypocrisy—this discovery is not a matter for triumph... And at this stage we begin to forget that there ever was a time when we lacked the seventh sense. We begin to forget, as we go stolidly balancing along, that there could have been a time when we were young bodies flaming with the impetus of life. It is hardly consoling to remember such a feeling, and so it deadens in our minds.

But there was a time when each of us stood naked before the world, confronting life as a serious problem with which we were intimately and passionately concerned. There was a time when it was of vital interest to us to find out whether there was a God or not... Further back, there were times when we wondered with all our souls what the world was, what love was, what we were ourselves.

All these problems and feelings fade away when we get the seventh sense. Middle-aged people can balance between believing in God and breaking all the commandments, without difficulty. The seventh sense, indeed, slowly kills all the other ones, so that at last there is no trouble about the commandments. We cannot see any more, or feel, or hear about them. The bodies which we loved, the truths which we sought, the Gods whom we questioned: we are deaf and blind to them now, safely and automatically
balancing along toward the inevitable grave, under the protection of our last sense.”
T.H. White, CliffsNotes on White's the Once and Future King

K. Lee Lerner
“Humor and wit are the universal solvents of the serious and the scholarly.”
K. Lee Lerner, Government, Politics, and Protest:: Essential Primary Sources

Sol Luckman
“bribery: (n.) invisible grease that makes politics go round and round.”
Sol Luckman, The Angel's Dictionary

Sol Luckman
“waffle: (n.) breakfast of politicians.”
Sol Luckman, The Angel's Dictionary

Guillaume Apollinaire
“— Прелестна жено — казваше Мони, — нека да разменим вярата на душите си.
— Добре — отвръщаше тя, — ще се оженим след войната и ще проглушим света с жестокостите си.
— Съгласен съм — каза Мони, — но това трябва да бъдат само законосъобразни действия.
— Може би си прав — съгласи се болногледачката. — Най-приятно е да вършиш това, което е разрешено.”
Guillaume Apollinaire, Le 11.000 verghe

Stewart Stafford
“Political sensitivity is as rare as footprints on quicksand.”
Stewart Stafford

Neal Stephenson
“If this had been France, and the Queen had been Louis XIV, it would have been done by now-but it was England, Parliament had its knobby fingers around the Monarch’s throat, and Whigs and Tories were joined in an eternal shin-kicking contest to determine which faction should have the honor of throttling her Majesty, and how hard.”
Neal Stephenson, Solomon's Gold

Nancy Rubin Stuart
“Within a day Mercy heard the news. She never forgot it. A few months later, that riot became the backdrop for her first political satire.”
Nancy Rubin Stuart, The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation

“dlaurent
The Ballad of Johnny Jihad (Down Desert Storm Way). ©
c. 2001

During the Gulf War (1990-1991), American Pro-Taliban Jihadist John Philip Walker Lindh was captured while serving with the enemy forces. Here is his tale in song and legend. My nowex at the time did not want me to run to the radio station with this, thought I’d look singularly ridiculii.
The following, 'The Ballad of Johnny Jihad' is sung to the tune of 'The Ballad of Jed Clampett' (1962), commonly known as 'The Beverly Hillbillies' song, the theme tune for the TV show series starring Buddy Ebsen. (Lyrics, Paul Henning, vocals Jerry Scoggins, Lester Flatt; master musicians of the art of the ballad and bluegrass ways, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs).

The Ballad of Johnny Jihad

(Sung) Come and listen to the story of Johnny Jihad,
Who left home and country to study his Islam,
And then one day he was shooting at our troops,
So down through the camp did the government swoop.

(Voice Over): ‘Al Que-da that is, Af-ghani Tali-ban, Terror-ist . . .’

(Sung) Well, the first thing you know ol’ John from ’Frisco roamed,
The lawman said ‘he’s a lad misunderstood very far from home.’
Said, ‘Californee is the place he oughta be,’
So they request his trial be moved to Berkeley . . .

(Voice Over): ‘Liberals that is, group-ies, peace-activists . . .’

Announcer: The Johnny Jihad Show! (Intense bluegrass banjo pickin’ music) . . .

(Sung) Now its time to say goodbye to John and all his kin,
Hope ya don’t think of him as a fightin’ Taliban,
You’re all invited back again to this insanity,
To get yourself a heapin’ helpin’ of this travesty . . .
Johnny Jihad, that’s what they call ’im now
Nice guy; don’t get fooled now, y’hear?

(Voice Over): ‘Lawyerin’ that is, O.J.ism, media-circus . . .’ (Music) . . .

end”
Douglas M. Laurent

Randolph Randy Camp
“I think that the only thing keeping my grandma and ol' man Coles apart is their skin color”
Randolph Randy Camp, America: No Purchase Necessary A Novel

Randolph Randy Camp
“Everybody got a past but the kind of past my grandma and Red got ain't the kind they like to talk about”
Randolph Randy Camp, America: No Purchase Necessary A Novel

Randolph Randy Camp
“If food or music ain't helping none then you know something must be really wrong”
Randolph Randy Camp, America: No Purchase Necessary A Novel

Randolph Randy Camp
“There's more to me than these earrings and blonde hair. I got dreams too.”
Randolph Randy Camp, America: No Purchase Necessary A Novel

Randolph Randy Camp
“Don't be afraid of something because we always learn from something different”
Randolph Randy Camp, America: No Purchase Necessary A Novel

P.J. O'Rourke
“When words were carved in stone, we got the Ten Commandments. When we had to make our own ink and chase a goose around the yard to get a quill (and before the Infite Monkey Theorem was developed), we got William Shakespeare . When the fountain pen was invented, we got Henry James. When the typewriter came along, we got Jack Kerouac. And with the Internet we get - the President of the United States on Twitter”
P.J. O'Rourke, None of My Business

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
“Don't you think they could be interested in progress?"
"They've seen some of it. There's only one aspect of progress that really excites them."
"What's that?"
"The electric guitar.”
Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Cat’s Cradle

Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
“Don't you think they could be interested in progress?"

"They've seen some of it. There's only one aspect of progress that really excites them."

"What's that?"

"The electric guitar.”
Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Cat’s Cradle

George Orwell
“Todos los animales son iguales
pero algunos animales son mas iguales que otros”
George Orwell, Animal Farm

George Orwell
“Los animales de afuera miraron del cerdo al hombre, y del hombre al cerdo, y nuevamente del cerdo al hombre: ya era imposible discernir quién era quién.”
George Orwell, Animal Farm

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