Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes


Learn about Dennis Prager (born August 2, 1948) — American conservative radio host, writer, and co-founder of PragerU — including his background, major works, influence, and memorable quotes.

Introduction

Dennis Mark Prager (b. August 2, 1948) is an American conservative radio talk show host, public commentator, author, and media entrepreneur. Over his long career, he has become known for blending moral, religious, and political commentary, especially from a Judeo-Christian and conservative viewpoint.

Prager is also co-founder of PragerU, a media organization that produces short videos promoting conservative ideas. This article explores his life, his work, controversies, philosophy, and some of his most quoted statements.

Early Life & Education

Dennis Prager was born in Brooklyn, New York, into a Jewish household. Hilda and Max Prager, the latter being the son of Polish Jewish immigrants.

He grew up in a modern Orthodox Jewish environment. Brooklyn College, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree.

While studying in England in 1969, Prager became involved in efforts to assist Soviet Jews (refuseniks) by smuggling Jewish religious materials into the USSR and documenting their situation. That experience marked an early point in his public activism.

Career & Achievements

Early Activism & Jewish Outreach

Prager’s early public engagement focused on Jewish issues, especially the plight of Soviet Jews. The Nine Questions People Ask About Judaism (with Joseph Telushkin) in 1975, a work aimed at explaining Judaism to nonobservant Jews and non-Jews.

From 1976 to 1983, Prager served as the director of the Brandeis-Bardin Institute, a Jewish educational and cultural institution in California. During this period, he enhanced his role as a speaker, writer, and public figure.

Radio & Media Work

Prager’s voice in national media grew when he was hired by KABC (AM) in Los Angeles to host Religion on the Line. The program expanded and eventually led to a broader talk radio presence.

He launched The Dennis Prager Show, a nationally syndicated radio talk show in which he discusses culture, politics, morality, religion, and current events.

PragerU

In 2009, Prager and Allen Estrin co-founded PragerU, an online media organization producing short videos (often 5–10 minutes) that promote conservative viewpoints on politics, culture, economics, and social issues.

Prager claims to personally review and edit each script published by PragerU.

Publications & Commentary

Prager is also a prolific author and columnist. His works include titles such as Happiness Is a Serious Problem and collections of essays that address moral, cultural, and political topics.

He frequently contributes opinion pieces to mainstream and conservative media outlets, and addresses contemporary debates over secularism, ideology, education, and values.

Philosophy, Influence & Criticism

Philosophical & Ideological Themes

  • Moral Absolutes & Judeo-Christian Values: Prager often argues for objective morality grounded in religious traditions.

  • Critique of Secularism & Modern Education: He is vocal in critiquing what he views as moral relativism, narcissism, and ideological indoctrination in universities.

  • Responsibility & Self-discipline: Many of his messages emphasize the importance of individual responsibility, self-control, gratitude, and resisting emotional impulsivity.

Influence

Prager has influenced conservative discourse and media through radio, books, and digital media. PragerU, in particular, has amplified his reach by packaging ideas in easily digestible video form. He has also contributed to public debates regarding culture, religion, education, and social norms.

Controversies & Criticism

Prager’s work and public statements have sparked debate and criticism:

  • Critics accuse PragerU of promoting ideological content under the guise of education, and claim some videos present misleading or oversimplified information.

  • His commentary on topics such as same-sex marriage, Islam, climate change, and COVID-19 (including opposition to lockdowns) has drawn significant criticism from more liberal and secular voices.

  • Some organizations and media have labeled aspects of PragerU’s content as having the potential for bias, selective framing, or partisan messaging.

Even so, his platform remains influential among audiences aligned with conservative and religious perspectives.

Famous Quotes of Dennis Prager

Here are some widely cited quotes that reflect Prager’s worldview:

“Goodness is about character — integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people.” “The biggest battle in life is with yourself.” “Happiness is dependent on self-discipline. We are the biggest obstacles to our own happiness. It is much easier to do battle with society and with others than to fight our own nature.” “Complaining not only ruins everybody else’s day, it ruins the complainer’s day, too. The more we complain, the more unhappy we get.” “When emotions dominate, maturity and wisdom deteriorate.” “If your religion doesn’t teach you the difference between good and evil, your religion is worse than useless.” “There is nothing about a Ph.D. The right was preoccupied with fighting Communism while the left ... Today the university is the last place you would want to send your 18-year-old.”

These quotes showcase recurring themes in his thought: self-awareness, moral responsibility, critique of emotional excess, and the importance of values.

Lessons from Dennis Prager

  1. Personal responsibility matters. Prager emphasizes that meaningful change and morality start with individuals, not just institutions.

  2. Clarity over agreement. He often prioritizes clear expression of convictions even at the cost of consensus.

  3. Balance emotion and reason. Many of his teachings warn against allowing emotions to override moral or intellectual reflection.

  4. Value of gratitude. He frames gratitude not just as a virtue but as crucial to happiness.

  5. Communication matters. Through radio, books, and videos, Prager demonstrates how ideas can be shaped and spread with clarity, brevity, and framing.

Conclusion

Dennis Prager is a prominent and sometimes polarizing voice in American conservative media. His career has spanned activism, religious outreach, radio broadcasting, writing, and digital media. Whether one agrees with him or not, his influence in shaping debates about morality, education, culture, and media is significant and ongoing.

If you’d like, I can also provide a chronological timeline of his major works, or a comparative analysis between Prager and other media thinkers (like Jordan Peterson, Ben Shapiro, or Sam Harris). Would you like that?

Articles by the author

Opponents of capital punishment argue that the state has no right to take a murderer's life. Apparently, one fact that abolitionists forget or overlook is that the state is acting not only on behalf of society, but also on behalf of the murdered person and the murdered person's family.

Dennis Prager

Unhappy, let alone angry, religious people provide more persuasive arguments for atheism and secularism than do all the arguments of atheists.

Dennis Prager

Our scientific age demands that we provide definitions, measurements, and statistics in order to be taken seriously. Yet most of the important things in life cannot be precisely defined or measured. Can we define or measure love, beauty, friendship, or decency, for example?

Dennis Prager

I have never written that there is a threat of fascism in America. I always considered the idea overwrought. But now I believe there really is such a threat - and it will come draped not in an American flag, but in the name of tolerance and health.

Dennis Prager

Goodness is about character - integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people.

Dennis Prager

Happiness is dependent on self-discipline. We are the biggest obstacles to our own happiness. It is much easier to do battle with society and with others than to fight our own nature.

Dennis Prager

From their teenage years on, children are considerably more capable of causing parents unhappiness than bringing them happiness. That is one reason parents who rely on their children for happiness make both their children and themselves miserable.

Dennis Prager

One of the great mind destroyers of college education is the belief that if it's very complex, it's very profound.

Dennis Prager

Socialism values equality more than liberty.

Dennis Prager

Proponents of same-sex marriage regularly label opponents 'radical' and 'extremist.' However, given that no society in thousands of years has allowed same-sex marriage, it is, by definition, the proponents of same-sex marriage whose position is radical and extreme.

Dennis Prager

It is easy to respect secular Americans who hold fast to the Constitution and to American values generally. And any one of us who believes in God can understand why some people, given all the unjust suffering in the world, just cannot believe that there is a Providential Being.

Dennis Prager

Although images of perfection in people's personal lives can cause unhappiness, images of perfect societies - utopian images - can cause monstrous evil. In fact, forcefully changing society to conform to societal images was the greatest cause of evil in the twentieth century.

Dennis Prager

People confuse goodness with weakness. It is weak people, not good people (goodness demands strength), who are taken advantage of.

Dennis Prager

Of all the characteristics needed for both a happy and morally decent life, none surpasses gratitude. Grateful people are happier, and grateful people are more morally decent.

Dennis Prager