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Quote by H. L. Mencken

“The only way for a reporter to look at a politician is down.”

Quote by H. L. Mencken

Author

H. L. Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. Born on September 12, 1880, and passing away on January 29, 1956, Mencken is renowned for his significant contributions to American culture and language, particularly through his satirical essays and critical analyses of the American establishment. more

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“Good government is that which delivers the citizen from being done out of his life and property too arbitrarily and violently-one that relieves him sufficiently from the barbaric business of guarding them to enable him to engage in gentler, more dignified, and more agreeable undertakings.”

Done Government Liberty Citizens Property Undertakings Being Done Barbaric Guarding

Book:Prejudices Fourth Series

Source: Prejudices Fourth Series

“Law and its instrument, government, are necessary to the peace and safety of all of us, but all of us, unless we live the lives of mud turtles, frequently find them arrayed against us.”

Government Law Liberty Safety Instruments Voting Mud Turtles

Author:H. L. Mencken

“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.”

Men Wells Government Form Liberty Enemy Essence Organized Voting Exploitation Industrious

Author:H. L. Mencken

“The true bureaucrat is a man of really remarkable talents. He writes a kind of English that is unknown elsewhere in the world, and an almost infinite capacity for forming complicated and unworkable rules.”

Men World Writing Kind Government Liberty Talent Capacity Infinite Complicated Remarkable Elsewhere Bureaucrats

Author:H. L. Mencken

“The natural tendency of every government is to grow steadily worse-that is, to grow more satisfactory to those who constitute it and less satisfactory to those who support it.”

Government Grows Natural Liberty Support Tendencies

Author:H. L. Mencken

“The great masses of men, though theoretically free, are seen to submit supinely to oppression and exploitation of a hundred abhorrent sorts. Have they no means of resistance? Obviously they have. The worst tyrant, even under democratic plutocracy, has but one throat to slit. The moment the majority decided to overthrow him he would be overthrown. But the majority lacks the resolution; it cannot imagine taking the risks.”

Men Mean Moments Would Be Imagine Risk Worst Mass Hundred Decided Majority Democratic Resistance Oppression Resolution Throat Tyrants Submit Exploitation Slits Abhorrent Plutocracy

Book:Notes On Democracy

Source: Notes On Democracy

“There's really no point to voting. If it made any difference, it would probably be illegal.”

Ifs Made Differences Voting Illegal No Point

Author:H. L. Mencken

“It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their one apparent purpose, pursued with a relentless and furious diligence, is to convert the assumption into a fact. They hunt endlessly for proofs, and, when proofs are lacking, for mere suspicions. The moment they become aware of a definite citizen, John Doe, seeking what is his right under the law, they begin searching feverishly for an excuse for withholding it from him.”

“The mistake that is made always runs the other way. Because the plain people are able to speak and understand, and even, in many cases, to read and write, it is assumed that they have ideas in their heads, and an appetite for more. This assumption is a folly.”

People Way Writing Made Ideas Running Able Speak Mistake Cases Assumption Folly Appetite

Author:H. L. Mencken

“Whenever A annoys or injures B on the pretense of saving or improving X, A is a scoundrel.”

Saving Annoying Improving Pretense Scoundrels

Author:H. L. Mencken