Molly Ivins

I had sort of given up on conventional journalism. I found it far too restrictive.

I couldn't find any way to tell the truth in a regular newspaper.

I really think the single most important thing to remember about trying to fix the schools is that there is no such thing as an instant result.

I only aim at the powerful.

The uproar of the late '60s - the antiwar movement, black riots, angry women. It was a wonderful time.

I saw a shrink because I thought I suffered from fear of success.

I spend most of my life feeling like I've been shot out of a cannon.

Am I the only person covering politics who ever noticed that Newt Gingrich is actually a nincompoop?

From orphanages to space colonies, it was all shallow but endearingly enthusiastic futurism. Gingrich was the kind of person who read a book or two on something and would then be quite afire as to how this was going to fit into some shining future.

One of the more urp-making habits of media mavens is presuming to speak for the American people, as in 'The American people won't stand for this!'

Jimmy Carter was unquestionably the most moral president of my lifetime, but he wasn't much of a president.

The greatest moral leader of my lifetime was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose private life does not bear close examination.

One of the few things I like about Bill Clinton is that he has very good manners. If his momma were still alive, I would congratulate her.

If Democrats in Washington haven't got enough sense to own the issue of political reform, I give up on them entirely.

For years, I have been trying to persuade people that George W. Bush, although no Einstein, is not stupid.

It's a monstrous idea to put people in prison and keep them there.

The extent to which not just state legislatures but the Congress of the United States are now run by large corporate special interests is beyond mere recognition as fact. The takeover is complete.

Laws were changed and regulations repealed until an Enron can set sail without responsibility, supervision, or accountability.

We need to reform the political system, or we'll lose the democracy. I don't think it's that hard. It doesn't take rocket science. We've done it before successfully at the presidential level and tried it several places at the state level.

Public campaign financing isn't perfect and can doubtlessly be improved upon as we go.

In most legislatures, punctilious attention to correct usage is considered elitist. The word 'government,' for example, is normally pronounced 'gummint'; bureaucracy is 'bureaucacy'; fiscal comes out 'physical,' and one moves not to suspend the rules, but to 'suppend.'

Legislative language is governed by a law of etymology that is also the ancient code of the bureaucracy: It doesn't have to be right, it just has to be close enough for government work. If they understand what you mean, it doesn't matter what you say or how you say it.

In Congress, there are some who are unashamed to aspire to eloquence, even to scholarship, but the only state legislator I ever knew who would not join in the mispronounceciation of a word for the sake of camaraderie with her fellows was former State Senator and Congresswoman Barbara Jordan.

People like to help. They like to be able to do something for you. Let them.

Losing a part of a breast or all of one or both has, obviously, serious psychological consequences.

One seldom expects the country's president to adequately note the passing of a rocker, but Jimmy Carter's assessment of Elvis Presley's appeal - 'energy, rebelliousness and good humor' - is remarkably close to the mark.

A teenage foot that never tapped to 'Heartbreak Hotel' in the '50s probably belonged to a hopeless grind.

The idols of one's adolescence tend to endure - you never forget how you worshipped them.

There is never anyone quite so wonderful as the people who were seniors when you were a freshman.

Sometimes misunderstandings between bloggers and the MSM are the result of simple ignorance.

I do object to those who jump from political hackery to flackery and expect respect.

Truly, if you can't cover a five-car pile-up on Route 128, you should not be covering a presidential campaign.

Truth is, I've spent much of my life trying, unsuccessfully, to explode the myths about Texas.

Here's the deal on Texas. It's big. So big, there's about five distinct and different places here, separated from one another geologically, topographically, botanically, ethnically, culturally, and climatically.

How come trying to explode myths about Texas always winds up reinforcing them?

Texas is still resistant to Howard Johnsons, interstate highways and some forms of phoniness. It is the place least likely to become a replica of everyplace else. It's authentically awful, comic, and weirdly charming, all at the same time.

I'm happy to be called a liberal.

People asked me during the Iraq war if I was afraid to speak out. I said no.

There are times a country is so tired of bull that only the truth can provide relief.

The thing is this: You got to have fun while you're fightin' for freedom, 'cause you don't always win.

I've said it before: War brings out the patriotic bullies. In World War I, they went around kicking dachshunds on the grounds that dachshunds were 'German dogs.' They did not, however, go around kicking German shepherds.

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.

Anyone who watched George W. and Karl Rove while the former was governor of Texas will recognize a familiar pattern. Like much of Bush's social policy - from faith-based social services to railing against gay marriage - women's issues are one of the bones they've decided they can throw to the Christian right.

You can't ignore politics, no matter how much you'd like to.

The stakes they play for in politics are paper and money. The chips they play with are your life.

So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce.

Many a time freedom has been rolled back - and always for the same sorry reason: fear.

Those who think of freedom in this country as one long, broad path leading ever onward and upward are dead damned wrong.

Keep fighting for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce.