H. L. Mencken Quotes - Page 6

• Genius: the ability to prolong one's childhood.

  H. L. Mencken

  Childhood, Genius, Ability

  10 Copy quote

• Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.

  H. L. Mencken

  Liberty, Auctions, Politics

  "Prejudices: First Series". Book by H. L. Mencken, 1919.

  90 Copy quote

• It is the natural tendency of the ignorant to believe what is not true. In order to overcome that tendency it is not sufficient to exhibit the true; it is also necessary to expose and denounce the false.

  H. L. Mencken

  Believe, Order, Ignorant

  "The American Mercury" Magazine, May 1926.

  16 Copy quote

• All government, in its essence, is a conspiracy against the superior man: its one permanent object is to oppress him and cripple him.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Essence, Conspiracy

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.145, Vintage

  9 Copy quote

• Justice is what you get when you run out of money.

  H. L. Mencken

  Running, Justice

  8 Copy quote

• The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians.

  H. L. Mencken

  Christian, Freedom, Democracy

  9 Copy quote

• Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Liberty, Arbitrary

  H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.69, Knopf

  27 Copy quote

• What men value in this world is not rights but privileges.

  H. L. Mencken

  Leadership, Men, Rights

  H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.34, Knopf

  19 Copy quote

• Don't overestimate the decency of the human race.

  H. L. Mencken

  Race, Literature, Dignity

  15 Copy quote

• The state remains, as it was in the beginning, the common enemy of all well-disposed, industrious and decent men.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Enemy, Politics

  38 Copy quote

• It doesn't take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause.

  H. L. Mencken

  Uprising, Leader, Causes

  27 Copy quote

• The only guarantee of the Bill of Rights which continues to have any force and effect is the one prohibiting quartering troops on citizens in time of peace. All the rest have been disposed of by judicial interpretation and legislative whittling.

  H. L. Mencken

  Rights, Bills, Troops

  H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.254, Knopf

  13 Copy quote

• The ideal way to get rid of any infectious disease would be to shoot instantly every person who comes down with it.

  H. L. Mencken

  Would Be, Disease, Way

  14 Copy quote

• All government is, in its essence, organized exploitation, and in virtually all of its existing forms it is the implacable enemy of every industrious and well-disposed man.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Essence, Voting

  "The Constitution". Baltimore Evening Sun, August 19, 1935.

  31 Copy quote

• Liberty is not for these slaves; I do not advocate inflicting it against their conscience. On the contrary, I am strongly in favor of letting them crawl and grovel all they please before whatever fraud or combination of frauds they choose to venerate...Our whole practical government is grounded in mob psychology and the Boobus Americanus will follow any command that promises to make him safer.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Government, Psychology

  9 Copy quote

• Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.

  H. L. Mencken

  Love, Funny, Marriage

  82 Copy quote

• The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.

  H. L. Mencken

  Inspirational, Birthday, Wisdom

  H. L. Mencken (2009). “Prejudices: Third Series”, p.311, Cosimo, Inc.

  58 Copy quote

• An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.

  H. L. Mencken

  Life, Food, Vegetables

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.617, Vintage

  70 Copy quote

• Whenever "A" attempts by law to impose his moral standards upon "B," "A" is most likely a scoundrel.

  H. L. Mencken

  Life, War, Government

  10 Copy quote

• Liberals have many tails and chase them all.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Democracy, Liberty

  9 Copy quote

• the average man does not want to be free. he simply wants to be safe.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Men, Average

  32 Copy quote

• Sunday is a day given over by Americans to wishing that the themselves were dead and in Heaven, and that their neighbors were dead and in Hell.

  H. L. Mencken

  Sunday, Heaven, Wish

  "A little book in C major".

  17 Copy quote

• Mankind has failed miserably in its effort to devise a rational system of government. [...] The art of government is the exclusive possession of quacks and frauds. It has been so since the earliest days, and it will probably remain so until the end of time.

  H. L. Mencken

  Art, Government, Effort

  H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.207, Knopf

  20 Copy quote

• 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

  Education, Teacher, Teaching

  H. L. Mencken (2009). “Prejudices: Third Series”, p.248, Cosimo, Inc.

  41 Copy quote

• I am one of the few goyim who have ever actually tackled the Talmud. I suppose you now expect me to add that it is a profound and noble work, worthy of hard study by all other goyims. Unhappily, my report must differ from this expectation. It seems to me, save for a few bright spots, to be quite indistinguishable from rubbish.

  H. L. Mencken

  Profound, Expectations, Noble

  63 Copy quote

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