The American people, North and South, went into the [Civil] war as citizens of their respective states, they came out as subjects … what they thus lost they have never got back.
H. L. MENCKENIf a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.
More H. L. Mencken Quotes
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Most people want security in this world, not liberty.
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The chief difference between free capitalism and State socialism seems to be this: that under the former a man pursues his own advantage openly, frankly and honestly, whereas under the latter he does so hypocritically and under false pretenses.
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The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.
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Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.
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Don’t overestimate the decency of the human race.
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It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man.
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The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.
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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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Misogynist: A man who hates women as much as women hate one another.
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Laws are no longer made by a rational process of public discussion; they are made by a process of blackmail and intimidation, and they are executed in the same manner
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When somebody says it’s not about the money, it’s about the money.
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Equality before the law is probably forever unattainable. It is a noble ideal, but it can never be realized, for what men value in this world is not rights but privileges.
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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 demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.
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Government’s great contribution to human wisdom is the discovery that the taxpayer has more than one pocket.
H. L. MENCKEN