H. L. Mencken Quotes

“There is always an easy solution to every human problem: neat, plausible, and wrong.”

“No one in this world, so far as I know, has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.”

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

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

“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.”

“The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.”

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

“If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.”

“A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.”

“It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favour of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.”

“The worst government is often the most moral. One composed of cynics is often very tolerant and humane. But when fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression.”

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos.”

“Most people want security in this world, not liberty.”

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

“I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant.”

“Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.”

“Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking.”

“Self-respect: the secure feeling that no one, as yet, is suspicious.”

“Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.”

“All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it.”

“A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.”

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

“It is not materialism that is the chief curse of the world, but idealism. Men get into trouble by taking their visions and hallucinations too seriously.”

“Hope is a pathological belief in the occurrence of the impossible.”

“Puritanism: the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”