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.
H. L. MENCKENThe 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.
More H. L. Mencken Quotes
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All government, in its essence, is a conspiracy against the superior man: its one permanent object is to oppress him and cripple him.
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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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Free speech is too dangerous to a democracy to be permitted.
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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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Socialist: A man suffering from an overwhelming conviction to believe what is not true.
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It doesn’t take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause.
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On one issue, at least, men and women agree. They both distrust women.
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Misogynist: A man who hates women as much as women hate one another.
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On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
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Most people want security in this world, not liberty.
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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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When fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression.
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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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It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
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The theory seems to be that as long as a man is a failure he is one of God’s children, but that as soon as he succeeds he is taken over by the Devil.
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