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The doctrine that the cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy is like saying that the cure of crime is more crime.

H. L. Mencken

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H. L. Mencken
Age: 75 †
Born: 1880
Born: September 12
Died: 1956
Died: January 29
Autobiographer
Essayist
Historian
Journalist
Linguist
Literary Critic
Satirist
Social Critic
Writer
Baltimore
Maryland
Henry Louis Mencken
Crime
Democracy
Saying
Evil
Like
Evils
Cure
Cures
Doctrine

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Never argue with a man whose job depends on not being convinced.
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All government, in its essence, is a conspiracy against the superior man: it's one permanent object is to oppress him and cripple him... One of its primary functions is to regiment men by force, to make them as much alike as possible and as dependent upon one another as possible, to search out and combat originality among them.
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The formula of the argument is simple and familiar: to dispose of a problem all that is necessary is to deny that it exists.
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The storm center of lawlessness in every American State is the State Capitol. It is there that the worst crimes are committed it is there that lawbreaking attains to the estate and dignity of a learned profession it is there that contempt for the laws is engendered, fostered, and spread broadcast.
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So few men are really worth knowing, that it seems a shameful waste to let an anthropoid prejudice stand in the way of free association with one who is.
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Man is a natural polygamist: he always has one woman leading him by the nose, and another hanging on to his coattails.
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Nature abhors a moron.
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The final test of truth is ridicule. Very few dogmas have ever faced it and survived.
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The motive of fear is the be-all and end-all of religion.
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The worst of marriage is that it makes a woman believe that all men are just as easy to fool.
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Why writers write I do not know. As well ask why a hen lays an egg or why a cow stands patiently while an underprivileged farmer burglarizes her.
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Women have simple tastes. They get pleasure out of the conversation of children in arms and men in love.
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Without a doubt there are women who would vote intelligently. There are also men who knit socks beautifully.
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I write in order to attain that feeling of tension relieved and function achieved which a cow enjoys on giving milk.
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Man is always looking for someone to boast to woman is always looking for a shoulder to put her head on.
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Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration - courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and, above all, love of the truth.
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But I wonder where we will land if trial judges begin deciding that the fact that a man has committed an atrocious crime is proof sufficient that he is not responsible for his acts.
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I think the Negro people should feel secure enough by now to face a reasonable ridicule without terror. I am unalterably opposed to all efforts to put down free speech, whatever the excuse.
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No romantic novel ever written in America, by man or woman, is one half so beautiful as My Ántonia.
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Looking for an honest politician is like looking for an ethical burglar.
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