Quote

Nice is a pallid virtue. Not like honesty or courage or perseverance. On the other hand, in a nation notably lacking in civility, there is much to be said for nice.

Molly Ivins

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Molly Ivins
Age: 62 †
Born: 1944
Born: August 30
Died: 2007
Died: January 31
Columnist
Journalist
Writer
Monterey
California
Nations
Lacking
Hands
Perseverance
Much
Honesty
Like
Courage
Nation
Pallid
Virtue
Notably
Hand
Niceness
Nice
Civility

More quotes by Molly Ivins

Image
I believe all Southern liberals come from the same starting point--race. Once you figure out they are lying to you about race, you start to question everything.
Molly Ivins
Image
...you could have knocked me over with Michael Huffington's brain.
Molly Ivins
Image
Conservatives are fond of pointing out there are problems in this world can't be solved by throwing money at them. There are even more that can't be solved by dropping bombs on them.
Molly Ivins
Image
It's hard to argue against cynics - they always sound smarter than optimists because they have so much evidence on their side.
Molly Ivins
Image
Texas is a fine place for men and dogs, but hell on women and horses.
Molly Ivins
Image
Of course, it has never paid much.
Molly Ivins
Image
Margaret Atwood, the Canadian novelist, once asked a group of women at a university why they felt threatened by men. The women said they were afraid of being beaten, raped, or killed by men. She then asked a group of men why they felt threatened by women. They said they were afraid women would laugh at them.
Molly Ivins
Image
The thing is this: You got to have fun while you're fightin' for freedom, 'cause you don't always win.
Molly Ivins
Image
Although a life-long fashion dropout, I have absorbed enough by reading Harper's Bazaar while waiting at the dentist's to have grasped that the purpose of fashion is to make A Statement. My own modest Statement, discerned by true cognoscenti, is, Woman Who Wears Clothes So She Won't Be Naked.
Molly Ivins
Image
Naturally, when it comes to voting, we in Texas are accustomed to discerning that fine hair’s-breadth worth of difference that makes one hopeless dipstick slightly less awful than the other. But it does raise the question: Why bother?
Molly Ivins
Image
It's like, duh. Just when you thought there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between the two parties, the Republicans go and prove you're wrong.
Molly Ivins
Image
It's hard to convince people that you're killing them for their own good.
Molly Ivins
Image
The first rule of holes: When you're in one stop digging.
Molly Ivins
Image
I think most of us become nicer as we get older, less judgmental, less full of certitude life tends to knock a few corners of us as we go through. Cancer, divorce, teenagers, and other plagues make us give up on expecting ourselves - or life - to be perfect, which is a real relief.
Molly Ivins
Image
I used to go on college campuses 25 years ago and announce I was a feminist, and people thought it meant I believed in free love and was available for a quick hop in the sack. ... Now I go on college campuses and say I'm a feminist, and half of them think it means I'm a lesbian. How'd we get from there to here without passing Go?
Molly Ivins
Image
My friend Mercedes Pena made me get in touch with my emotions just before I had a breast cut off. Just as I suspected, they were awful. How do you Latinas do this all the time in touch with your emotions? I asked her. That's why we take siestas, she replied.
Molly Ivins
Image
I know: Guns Don't Kill People. But I suspect that they have something to do with it. If you point your finger at someone and say, Bang, bang, you're dead, not much actually happens.
Molly Ivins
Image
As I have pointed out time and again, it's a hell of a lot cheaper to send little kids to school than it is to let them grow up into young thugs who have to be sent to prison, not to mention the savings in the wear and tear on the nerves, property, and safety of the rest of the citizenry.
Molly Ivins
Image
If you ever get to the place where injustice doesn't bother you, you're dead.
Molly Ivins
Image
This is the man (Ronald Reagan) who proved that ignorance is no handicap to the presidency
Molly Ivins