Molly Ivins Quotes

I only aim at the powerful. When satire is aimed at the powerless, it is not only cruel - it's vulgar.

Satire is traditionally the weapon of the powerless against the powerful.

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.

Ridicule is man's most potent weapon.

There are two kinds of humor. One kind that makes us chuckle about our foibles and our shared humanity -- like what Garrison Keillor does. The other kind holds people up to public contempt and ridicule -- that's what I do. 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.

The best comedy is where you attack the strong, not the weak.

People can't stand it when you deal with issues of race and class, and also sometimes the church, and you give a perspective that flushes out hypocrisy.

As to your extraordinary code of laws, I cannot help but laugh.

Comedy is allied to justice.

Laughter does not please the mighty.

Comedians are obsessed with justice and the truth.

When in doubt, mock the powerful, not the powerless.

It's supposed to feel good to throw a brick at the right people. There is a long tradition of naming and ridiculing and shaming and calling the villains what they are. Usually it was the artistocracy of the day and satire was the only way to speak truth to power.

I'm the guy in the crowd making fun of the hero's shirt.

The modern world seems to make fun of people in a lot of ways.

It's certainly easy to mock some things ... Oddly enough though I've never found it easy to mock anything of value. Only things that are tawdry and fatuous - perhaps it's just me.

Mock mockers after that That would not lift a hand maybe To help good, wise or great To bar that foul storm out, for we Traffic in mockery.

Sometimes presenting the most ignorant point of view can be the best way to satirize the issue and highlight that ignorance.

Satire also allows you to make fun of every different aspect. It allows you to make fun of both sides. It allows you to make fun of everything, really, so you can do it in a harmless way.

Well, if you pick a fight with somebody that's smaller than you and you beat them, where's the honor in that?

In laughter we always find an unavowed intention to humiliate and consequently to correct our neighbour.

It's easier to blame the person with less power.

Before passing different laws for different people, I'd relinquish myself unto you as your slave.

Race is not particularly interesting to me. Power is. Who has power and who doesn't. Slavery interests me because it's an incredible violation that has not stopped. It's necessary to talk about that. Race is a diversion.

Most of the bad taste I've been accused of has been generic bad taste; it's been making fun of an idea as opposed to a person.