"In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.












More H. L. Mencken quotes
"Communism, like any other revealed religion, is largely made up of prophecies.
"Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed and...
"Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.
"When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men whose chief distinguishing mark is the fact t...
"The most erroneous assumption is to the effect that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their in...
"Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.
"Government today is growing too strong to be safe. There are no longer any citizens in the world there are only subjects. They work day in and day out...
"Before one may scare the plain people one must first have a firm understanding of the bugaboos that most facilely alarm them. One must study the schem...
"It seems to be difficult if not impossible for human beings to avoid thinking of government as mystical entity with a nature and a history all its own...
"A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.
"The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.
"In the present case it is a little inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty and common decency. Thi...
"The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians.
"Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.