It doesn’t take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause.
H. L. MENCKENEvery normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
More H. L. Mencken Quotes
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There are two impossibilities in life: “just one drink” and “an honest politician.”
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Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
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A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
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Misogynist: A man who hates women as much as women hate one another.
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The kind of man who demands that government enforce his ideas is always the kind whose ideas are idiotic.
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The ideal way to get rid of any infectious disease would be to shoot instantly every person who comes down with it.
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The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on the poor.
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When fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression.
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The State doesn’t just want you to obey, it wants to make you WANT to obey.
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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 trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
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The only thing wrong with Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address was that it was the South, not the North, that was fighting for a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
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Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.
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The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.
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The best teacher is not the one who knows most but the one who is most capable of reducing knowledge to that simple compound of the obvious and wonderful.
H. L. MENCKEN