“I wonder why prostitution is illegal. Why should it be illegal to sell something that's perfectly legal to give away?”

The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson (1989)
Interviews, Television Appearances

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "I wonder why prostitution is illegal. Why should it be illegal to sell something that's perfectly legal to give away?" by George Carlin?
George Carlin photo
George Carlin 270
American stand-up comedian 1937–2008

Related quotes

Evo Morales photo

“I learned that the political is above the legal, that’s why when my advisors tell me, Evo, what you are doing is illegal, I say, if it is illegal, then do it legal, you have studied for that”

Evo Morales (1959) Bolivian politician

Press conference Digital Journals in Spanish such as La Razón citing the article "Cuando la ley se convierte en una piedra en el zapato" or Libertad Digital "Evo Morales confiesa que da "pasos ilegales" en Bolivia para aplicar sus reformas."

Piero Scaruffi photo

“Why are there age limits? why is it illegal to marry a 12-year old?”

Piero Scaruffi (1955) Italian writer

Context: Why are there age limits? why is it illegal to marry a 12-year old? Helen of Troy was 12. Juliet and Cleopatra were still teenagers when they became famous. Most heroines of classic novels and poems were underage by today's laws. Thomas Edison married a 16-year-old. Medical studies show that the best age for a woman to have children is between 15 and 25 (lowest chances of miscarriage, of birth defects and, last but not least, of the woman dying while giving birth); while the worst age is after the mid 30s. And the younger you are, the more likely you are to cement a real friendship with your children; the older you are, the more likely that the "generational gap" will hurt your children's psychology. Therefore it is much more natural to have a child at 16 than at 40.

“The choice is not between drugs and no drugs, but between illegal drugs and legal drugs. Until the 1920s drugs were legal, why not now? Lots of people are on drugs anyway — it is called medication.”

David Hockney (1937) British artist

Interview with Jasper Gerard, "Taking the fight to the dreary people," The Sunday Times (London) (2 October 2005)
2000s

Chuck Schumer photo

“People who enter the United States without our permission are illegal aliens and illegal aliens should not be treated the same as people who enter the United States legally.”

Chuck Schumer (1950) U.S. Senator from the State of New York

Speech on immigration https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdL2k8jbnAs (24 June 2009), quoted in "Schumer talks tough on immigration reform issue" https://www.newsday.com/news/nation/schumer-talks-tough-on-immigration-reform-issue-1.1868825 by Tom Brune, Newsday.com (18 April 2010)

Thomas Jefferson photo

“Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal for the citizenry.”

Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) 3rd President of the United States of America

A wonderful quote, if only it were true, despite no shortage image-quote-memes online. note: "Spurious" here: https://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/tyranny-defined-which-legal-government-spurious-quotation note: "Not True"
Source: https://www.truthorfiction.com/thomas-jefferson-tyranny-is-defined-as-that-which-is-legal-for-the-government-quote/

Michel Chossudovsky photo

“Legal and illegal activities had become inextricably intertwined.”

Michel Chossudovsky (1946) Canadian economist

Source: The Globalization of Poverty and the New World Order - Second Edition - (2003), Chapter 18, Albania's IMF Sponsored Financial Disaster, p. 293

“I have a saying: the scandal isn't what's illegal, the scandal is what's legal.”

Michael Kinsley (1951) American political journalist, commentator television host

As quoted on Crossfire, CNN, Nov. 15, 1990.

P. J. O'Rourke photo

“You know, if government were a product, selling it would be illegal.”

P. J. O'Rourke (1947) American journalist

The Liberty Manifesto (1993)

“No admission of the party... can make that legal which is in its nature illegal.”

William Henry Ashurst (judge) (1725–1807) English judge

Atherfold v. Beard (1788), 1 T. R. 615.

Martin Luther King, Jr. photo

“We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was "legal" and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was "illegal."”

Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) American clergyman, activist, and leader in the American Civil Rights Movement

1960s, (1963)

Related topics