3/20/14

5 gems of pith and vinegar from H.L. Mencken

No one since H.L. Mencken has been able to cast a few words into the sea and catch the truth – of course there’s the legendary observation “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.”

Here are several more of my favorites courtesy of Brainy Quotes:

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

+++ 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. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.

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

+++ It doesn't take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause.

+++ I believe in only one thing: liberty; but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it upon anyone.

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