"What is worth knowing, he doesn’t know and doesn’t want to know; what he knows is not true. The cardinal articles of his credo are the inventions of mountebanks; his heroes are mainly scoundrels."
~ H.L. Mencken
"What is worth knowing, he doesn’t know and doesn’t want to know; what he knows is not true. The cardinal articles of his credo are the inventions of mountebanks; his heroes are mainly scoundrels."
The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable
Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority
Truth would quickly cease to be stranger than fiction, once we got as used to it.
The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth
The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.
One of my favorites, never more apropos than today:
"Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses. It is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
"What is worth knowing, he doesn’t know and doesn’t want to know; what he knows is not true. The cardinal articles of his credo are the inventions of mountebanks; his heroes are mainly scoundrels."
~ H.L. Mencken
Nice quote. He certainly called ‘em the way he saw ‘em.
Yes he did.
Sadly, it appears that not much has changed since he wrote it. If anything it has gotten worse.
Human nature's a pretty set thing. An ugly species to be sure
Some more Mencken quotes:
The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable
Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority
Truth would quickly cease to be stranger than fiction, once we got as used to it.
The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth
The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.
One of my favorites, never more apropos than today:
"Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses. It is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
~ H. L. Mencken