The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.
H. L. MENCKENMost people want security in this world, not liberty.
More H. L. Mencken Quotes
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There’s really no point to voting. If it made any difference, it would probably be illegal.
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Once a woman passes a certain point in intelligence she finds it almost impossible to get a husband: she simply cannot go on listening without snickering.
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Always remember this: If you don’t attend the funerals of your friends, they will certainly not attend yours.
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The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed a standard citizenry, to put down dissent and originality.
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When fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression.
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People do not expect to find chastity in a whorehouse. Why, then, do they expect to find honesty and humanity in government, a congeries of institutions whose modus operandi consists of lying, cheating, stealing, and if need be, murdering those who resist?
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No professional politician is ever actually in favor of public economy. It is his implacable enemy, and he knows it. All professional politicians are dedicated wholeheartedly to waste and corruption. They are the enemies of every decent man.
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Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.
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A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
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You can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.
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Freedom of press is limited to those who own one.
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Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
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It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man.
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Socialist: A man suffering from an overwhelming conviction to believe what is not true.
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Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right.
H. L. MENCKEN