The 20 Best Quotes of the Last Decade
For a couple of decades now, I have put out a list of the best and most obnoxious quotes of the year. The most obnoxious quotes always get much more attention for understandable reasons, but that’s just how it is these days, isn’t it? The most outrageous, blood pressure-raising, anger-producing events get all the eyeballs, and the real news, brilliant insights, and uplifting sentiments tend to get ignored.
Well today, we’re going to be giving those “best of” quotes the respect they deserve. What you are about to read is a little snapshot of history, the best quotes from 2014 – to the present. Enjoy!
20) “In the past, if a 21-year-old said they had ‘trauma’, or were on the receiving end of ‘violence,’ it usually meant they’d seen their mates get blown up in the trenches, or had been shot. Now it just means they saw a Tweet.” — Charlotte Gill
19) “Unfortunately, as I tell my white friends, we as black people, we’re never going to be successful, not because of you white people, but because of other black people. When you’re black, you have to deal with so much crap in your life from other black people. It’s a dirty, dark secret; I’m glad it’s coming out.
…One of the reasons we’re never going to be successful as a whole, is because of other black people. And for some reason, we are brainwashed to think, if you’re not a thug or an idiot, you’re not black enough. If you go to school, make good grades, speak intelligently, and don’t break the law, you’re not a good black person. And it’s a dirty, dark secret.
…There are a lot of black people who are unintelligent, who don’t have success. It’s best to knock a successful black person down because they’re intelligent, they speak well, they do well in school, and they’re successful… We’re the only ethnic group who say, ‘Hey, if you go to jail, it gives you street cred.’ It’s just typical BS that goes on when you’re black, man.” — Charles Barkley
18) “Conservatives say ‘you can be somebody.’ Liberals say ‘you should hate somebody.’” — Carl Jackson
17) “If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you do read it, you’re misinformed… In our society, now it’s just first — who cares, get it out there. We don’t care who it hurts. We don’t care who we destroy. We don’t care if it’s true.” — Denzel Washington
16) “If you want to know who actually has the power in our society and who is actually marginalized, ask which ideas get you sponsorships from Google and Pepsi and which get you fired.” — Kevin Williamson
15) “If progressives have a politics that says all white people are racist, all men are toxic, and all billionaires are evil it’s kinda hard to keep them on your side. If you're chasing people out of the party, you can't be mad when they leave.” — Van Jones
14) “What once helped to diminish ancient prejudices was the American creed that no one had a right to discriminate against fellow citizens on the basis of race, gender, class, or religion. And what fuels the return of American bias is the new idea that citizens can disparage or discriminate against other groups if they claim victim status and do so for purportedly noble purposes.” — Victor Davis Hanson
13) “Actually, the idea that governments can spend without any concern for financial return is the fundamental incorrect premise of our time.” — Balaji Srinivasan
12) “Government, we are sometimes told, is just another word for things we choose to do together. Like a lot of things politicians say, this sounds good. And, also like a lot of things politicians say, it isn’t the least bit true. Many of the things government does, we don’t choose. Many of the things we choose, government doesn’t do. And whatever gets done, we’re not the ones doing it. And those who are doing it often interpret their mandates selfishly.” — Glenn Reynolds
11) “Government’s job is not to get you stuff or to get somebody else’s stuff for you. It’s to preserve your liberty.” — Rand Paul
10) “If you want to know how dumb the West has become, people have been arguing about how many genders there are, and if it's FAIR to allow males to compete against females in competitive sports... For 8 YEARS! No wonder no real progress is being made on anything important.” — Zuby
9) “To me, it’s a sign of intellectual weakness. If you can’t ask Ann Coulter in a polite way questions which expose the weakness of her arguments, if all you can do is boo, or shut her down, or prevent her from coming, what does that tell the world? What are you afraid of? Her ideas? Ask her the hard questions. Confront her intellectually. Booing people down, or intimidating people, or shutting down events, I don’t think that that works in any way.” — Bernie Sanders
8) “We are all descended from slaves. It is just a question of when. Was it more recent or less recent? That's it.” — Elon Musk
7) “Disagreements become insults when politics becomes a statement about who you are.” — Jonah Goldberg
6) “We are not a nation of immigrants. We are a nation of citizens.” — Mark Levin
5) “The only true test of intelligence is if you get what you wanted out of life.” — Naval Ravikant
4) “You know what woke means, right? It means you’re a loser. Everything woke turns to sh*t.” — Donald Trump
3) “Modern journalism is all about deciding which facts the public shouldn’t know because they might reflect badly on Democrats.” — Jim Treacher
2) “What I see all over the place is people who care about looking good, while doing evil. F*** them." — Elon Musk
1) “Fight! Fight! Fight!” — Donald Trump
My favorite is 11) “Government’s job is not to get you stuff or to get somebody else’s stuff for you. It’s to preserve your liberty.” — Rand Paul
#19. Charles Barkley says what he thinks, you've got to admit that he has the courage of his convictions. From my observations as a white person, I see the truth in what he says. It seems like there's so many destructive behaviors being tolerated, promoted, even rewarded in the black community that it makes me uncomfortable to be around groups of black people. Shoplifting and looter gangs? Karmello Anthony? I see race hustlers and community activists pushing the worst sort of lies about what the black experience is, and how it's the white man's fault when it's not successful. White supremacy/white privilege is the excuse given for differences in outcomes. And black women, as exemplified by Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Reid and Sunni Hosten come across as loud, obnoxious, aggressive, opinionated, but unfortunately not honest, truthful or terribly smart. I know these are not the best and brightest representatives, yet those women are the chosen mouthpieces of the corporate media. Luckily Kamalla and Joy Reid were dumped, so maybe there is some hope.