# Molly Ivins - Quotes: 12 - Author page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins ## Books - [Nothin' But Good Times Ahead](https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/nothin-but-good-times-ahead.md) — 6 quotes - [You Got to Dance with Them What Brung You](https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/you-got-to-dance-with-them-what-brung-you.md) — 6 quotes ## Recently added quotes > Personally, I think government is a tool, like a hammer. You can use a hammer to build or you can use a hammer to destroy; there is nothing intrinsically good or evil about the hammer itself. It is the purposes to which it is put and the skill with which it is used that determine whether the hammer's work is good or bad. (Introduction) [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/you-got-to-dance-with-them-what-brung-you/personally-i-think.md) > Many people did not care for Pat Buchanan's speech; it probably sounded better in the original German. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/nothin-but-good-times-ahead/many-people-did.md) > Fear is the most dangerous emotion in politics. People do terrible things to one another out of fear. In my opinion, anyone who can look at the raunchier frontiers of American culture without at least some trepidation hasn't got a lick of sense. But we are now looking at a form of fundamentalism in which fear is being deliberately fanned for political purposes. > > The boogeymen are everywhere: Sex education will lead to promiscuity, AIDS, and Chinese communism. Failure to discriminate against gay people will lead to Sodom and Gomorrah. Failure to have official prayers in school means the End Is Nigh. > > I have no claim to expertise on eternal rewards and punishments. But personally, I suspect there is a special place in hell for the fear-mongers. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/nothin-but-good-times-ahead/fear-is-the.md) > Nothing like a Republican convention to drive you screaming back into the arms of the Democrats. ("Notes from Another Country" 1992) [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/nothin-but-good-times-ahead/nothing-like-a-republican.md) > Women are receiving so many conflicting messages from this society that no matter what choices we make, or more often, what roles necessity forces on us-work, family or the difficult combination of both-we all feel guilty about what we're doing. It's quite true that full-time homemakers resent the condescension in remarks like Hillary Clinton's "What did you expect me to do, stay home and bake cookies?" But this is a society in which people's worth is judged by how much money they make, and the esteem in which our society holds wives and mothers is reflected in their salaries. ("Notes from Another Country" 1992) [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/nothin-but-good-times-ahead/women-are-receiving.md) > [On Bill Clinton] If left to my own devices, I'd spend all my time pointing out that he's weaker than bus-station chili. But the man is so constantly subjected to such hideous and unfair abuse that I wind up standing up for him on the general principle that some fairness should be applied. Besides, no one but a fool or a Republican ever took him for a liberal. (Introduction) [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/you-got-to-dance-with-them-what-brung-you/on-bill-clinton.md) > 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. ("Look to the Children of the Poor in This Season of Budget-Slashing", 1995) [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/you-got-to-dance-with-them-what-brung-you/how-the-american.md) > 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. ("Stand by, America! Newt Alert!", 1994) [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/you-got-to-dance-with-them-what-brung-you/when-politicians-start.md) > The trouble with blaming powerless people is that although it's not nearly as scary as blaming the powerful, it does miss the point. Poor people do not shut down factories. Poor people are not in charge of those mergers and acquisitions in which tens of thousands of people lose their jobs so a few people in top positions can make a killing on the stock market. Poor people did not decide to keep wages either steady or falling for the last twenty years. Poor people didn't decide to use 'contract employees' because they cost less and don't get any benefits. ("Wasting Perfectly Good Anger" 1997) [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/you-got-to-dance-with-them-what-brung-you/the-trouble-with.md) > as we stagger toward the millenium, I can only hope that this modest oeuvre--as we often say in Amarillo will remind you that we need to stop and laugh along the way. We live in a Great Nation, but those who attempt to struggle through it unarmed with a sense of humor are apt to wind up in my Aunt Eula's Fort Worth Home for the Terminally Literal-Minded, gibbering like some demented neoconservative about the Decline of Civilization. Any nation that can survive what we have lately in the way of government is on the high road to permanent glory. So hang in there, keep fightin' for freedom, raise more hell, and don't forget to laugh, too. (Preface) [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/nothin-but-good-times-ahead/as-we-stagger.md) > 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. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was. [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/nothin-but-good-times-ahead/so-keep-fightin.md) > 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. ("We're Talking About This Kind of People..." 1995) [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/molly-ivins/you-got-to-dance-with-them-what-brung-you/listen-to-the.md)