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.

Quote by Henry Louis Mencken

Topics: Politics Quotes

Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.

Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.

Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.

Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

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

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

And out of each (schoolhouse) is vomited the standard product of the New Pedagogy -...

And out of each (schoolhouse) is vomited the standard product of the New Pedagogy -...

The Liberals have many tails, and chase them all

The Liberals have many tails, and chase them all

A man always remembers his first love with special tenderness, but after that he begins...

A man always remembers his first love with special tenderness, but after that he begins...

The central difficulty lies in the fact that all of the sciences have made such...

The central difficulty lies in the fact that all of the sciences have made such...

The way for newspapers to meet the competition of radio and television is simply to...

The way for newspapers to meet the competition of radio and television is simply to...

What restrains us from killing is partly fear of punishment, partly moral scruple, and partly...

What restrains us from killing is partly fear of punishment, partly moral scruple, and partly...

When we appropriate money from the public funds to pay for vaccinating a horde of...

When we appropriate money from the public funds to pay for vaccinating a horde of...

Morality: The theory that every human act must either be right or wrong, and that...

Morality: The theory that every human act must either be right or wrong, and that...

To wage a war for a purely moral reason is as absurd as to ravish...

To wage a war for a purely moral reason is as absurd as to ravish...

Criticism is prejudice made plausible.

Criticism is prejudice made plausible.

Suicide is belated acquiescence in the opinion of one's wife's relatives

Suicide is belated acquiescence in the opinion of one's wife's relatives

The typical American of today has lost all the love of liberty, that his forefathers...

The typical American of today has lost all the love of liberty, that his forefathers...

Save among politicians it is no longer necessary for any educated American to profess belief...

Save among politicians it is no longer necessary for any educated American to profess belief...

The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world...

The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world...

Just bought dinner for a homeless man. I've never felt more appreciation from a stranger...

Just bought dinner for a homeless man. I've never felt more appreciation from a stranger...

I would have carved on the portals of the National Press Club, Put not your...

I would have carved on the portals of the National Press Club, Put not your...

I try to keep away from being bigheaded. That's what causes people to lose the...

I try to keep away from being bigheaded. That's what causes people to lose the...