The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
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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The State doesn’t just want you to obey, it wants to make you WANT to obey.
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Journalism is to politician as dog is to lamp-post.
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The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.
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It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man.
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Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.
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A sense of humor always withers in the presence of the messianic delusion, like justice and the truth in front of patriotic passion.
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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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Free speech is too dangerous to a democracy to be permitted.
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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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On one issue, at least, men and women agree. They both distrust women.
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Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.
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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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Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
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Freedom of press is limited to those who own one.
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Don’t overestimate the decency of the human race.
H. L. MENCKEN