H.L. Mencken

H.L. Mencken died on this date in 1956. Here are some of his great quotes.

Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

All government, of course, is against liberty.

A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in.

A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.

A society made up of individuals who were all capable of original thought would probably be unendurable.

Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.

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