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Quote by H. L. Mencken

“The truth, indeed, is something that mankind, for some mysterious reason, instinctively dislikes. Every man who tries to tell it is unpopular, and even when, by the sheer strength of his case, he prevails, he is put down as a scoundrel.”

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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“What is any political campaign save a concerted effort to turn out a set of politicians who are admittedly bad and put in a set who are thought to be better. The former assumption, I believe is always sound; the latter is just as certainly false. For if experience teaches us anything at all it teaches us this: that a good politician, under democracy, is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.”

Ifs Believe Political Turns I Believe Sound Effort Teach Democracy Honest Politician Campaigns Former Assumption Latter Unthinkable Burglars Political Campaign Good Politicians

Book:PREJUDICES A SELECTION

Source: PREJUDICES A SELECTION

“The typical lawmaker of today is a man wholly devoid of principle - a mere counter in a grotesque and knavish game. If the right pressure could be applied to him, he would be cheerfully in favor of polygamy, astrology or cannibalism.”

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Book:Mencken Chrestomathy

Source: Mencken Chrestomathy

“[Referring to FDR] If he became convinced tomorrow that coming out for cannibalism would get him the votes he needs so sorely, he would begin fattening a missionary in the White House yard come Wednesday.”

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Author:H. L. Mencken

“I believe in only one thing and that thing is human liberty.”

Believe Humans I Believe Liberty One Thing I Believe In

Author:H. L. Mencken

“I believe in only one thing and that thing is human liberty. If ever a man is to achieve anything like dignity, it can happen only if superior men are given absolute freedom to think what they want to think and say what they want to say. I am against any man and any organization which seeks to limit or deny that freedom ... the superior man can be sure of freedom only if it is given to all men.”

Ifs Thinking Men Want Happens Given Achieve Dignity Absolutes Superiors Superior Man Absolute Freedom

Author:H. L. Mencken

“There has been no organized effort to keep government down since Jefferson's day. Ever since then the American people have been bolstering up its powers and giving it more and more jurisdiction over their affairs. They pay for that folly in increased taxes and diminished liberties.”

People Giving Has Beens Government Effort Pay Liberty Taxes Affair Organized Folly Jurisdiction

Book:Minority Report

Source: Minority Report

“If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal.”

Ifs Political Changed Vote Election Voting Illegal Favourite Nerd Anarchism Anarchist Election Day Elections And Voting Funny Politician Inspirational Voting Voting Day

Author:Emma Goldman

“The main thing that every political campaign in the United States demonstrates is that the politicians of all parties, despite their superficial enmities, are really members of one great brotherhood. Their principal, and indeed their sole, object is to collar public office, with all the privileges and profits that go therewith. They achieve this collaring by buying votes with other people's money.”

Source: Minority Report

“The highfalutin aims of democracy, whether real or imaginary, are always assumed to be identical with its achievements. This, of course, is sheer hallucination. Not one of those aims, not even the aim of giving every adult a vote, has been realized. It has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.”

Men Giving Has Beens Made Real Courses Christianity Democracy Wise Achievement Adults Vote Aim Imaginary Sheer Identical Hallucinations

Author:H. L. Mencken

“Government, like any other organism, refuses to acquiesce in its own extinction. This refusal, of course, involves the resistance to any effort to diminish its powers and prerogatives.”

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Book:Minority Report

Source: Minority Report