Notable Quotes - P.J. O'Rourke, Thomas Sowell, and John Hawkins on Duty, Consequences, and Responsibility - Granite Grok

Notable Quotes – P.J. O’Rourke, Thomas Sowell, and John Hawkins on Duty, Consequences, and Responsibility

“There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.” — P.J. O’Rourke

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“We seem to be moving steadily in the direction of a society where no one is responsible for what he himself did,but we are all responsible for what somebody else did, either in the present or in the past.” – Thomas Sowell

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The problem with encouraging irresponsible behavior is the more you feed the beast, the more it grows. You’re not “helping people” by excusing behavior you find abhorrent. That kind of “help” decimates people and when it’s done on a large enough scale, it ruins societies.

In America, we’re getting to the point where we’re stepping all over the people who work hard and play by the rules to cater to the irresponsible. Instead of wagging our fingers at the people who make society work because they’re not giving enough, what’s wrong with asking all of us to take a minimum level of responsibility for our own lives before we start pointing the finger at other people?  – John Hawkins

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