Poetry has done enough when it charms, but prose must also convince. H. L. Mencken More Quotes by H. L. Mencken More Quotes From H. L. Mencken The storm center of lawlessness in every American State is the State Capitol. It is there that the worst crimes are committed; it is there that lawbreaking attains to the estate and dignity of a learned profession; it is there that contempt for the laws is engendered, fostered, and spread broadcast. H. L. Mencken libertygovernmentlaw I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time. H. L. Mencken wiselifebelieve It [the State] has taken on a vast mass of new duties and responsibilities; it has spread out its powers until they penetrate to every act of the citizen, however secret; it has begun to throw around its operations the high dignity and impeccability of a State religion; its agents become a separate and superior caste, with authority to bind and loose, and their thumbs in every pot. But it still remains, as it was in the beginning, the common enemy of all well-disposed, industrious and decent men. H. L. Mencken takenresponsibilitymen All the great enterprises of the world are run by a few smart men: their aides and associates run down by rapid stages to the level of sheer morons. Everyone knows that this is true of government, but we often forget that it is equally true of private undertakings. In the average great bank, or railroad, or other corporation the burden of management lies upon a small group. The rest are ciphers. H. L. Mencken smartrunninglying 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. H. L. Mencken freedomfightingtime 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 H. L. Mencken intimidationlawmade Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant. H. L. Mencken progressinspirationalmen Correct spelling, indeed, is one of the arts that are far more esteemed by schoolma’ams than by practical men, neck-deep in the heat and agony of the world. H. L. Mencken agonymenart 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. H. L. Mencken rightslawmen The state remains, as it was in the beginning, the common enemy of all well-disposed, industrious and decent men. H. L. Mencken politicsmenenemy The State doesn't just want you to obey, it wants to make you WANT to obey. H. L. Mencken stateswant 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 votingessencemen Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. H. L. Mencken majority-rulefreedomignorance Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration - courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and, above all, love of the truth. H. L. Mencken honestyatheistthinking The fact is that liberty, in any true sense, is a concept that lies quite beyond the reach of the inferior man's mind. And no wonder, for genuine liberty demands of its votaries a quality he lacks completely, and that is courage. The man who loves it must be willing to fight for it; blood, said Jefferson, is its natural manure. Liberty means self-reliance, it means resolution, it means the capacity for doing without . . . the average man doesn't want to be free. He wants to be safe. H. L. Mencken couragelovelying Misogynist: A man who hates women as much as women hate one another. H. L. Mencken womenhateinspiration Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. H. L. Mencken marriagelovefunny The ideal Government of all reflective men, from Aristotle onward, is one which lets the individual alone - one which barely escapes being no government at all. H. L. Mencken libertarianlibertymen A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar. H. L. Mencken democracyfreedompolitics Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man. H. L. Mencken arbitrarylibertymen
