Authors:

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

H. L. Mencken Quotes about Freedom - Page 2

All H. L. Mencken Quotes Achievement Adultery Adventure Age Alcohol Arguing Art Atheism Atheist Beer Belief Business Change Character Children Choices College Comedy Common Sense Communism Conscience Conspiracy Cooking Country Courage Criticism Critics Culture Cynicism Death Democracy Determination Devil Difficulty Dignity Doubt Drinking Dying Earth Education Effort Ethics Evil Exercise Faith Fear Feelings Fighting Food Free Speech Freedom quotes Funny Genius Giving God Golf Happiness Hate Heart Heaven Hell History Home Honesty Honor House Humanity Husband Ignorance Imagination Inspirational Intelligence Intuition Journalism Joy Judging Justice Kissing Knowledge Language Laughter Learning Liberty Life Literature Logic Love Lying Marriage Military Money Moon Morality Music Nature Office Originality Passion Past Patriotism Peace Personality Philosophy Politics Pot Poverty Prejudice Progress Propaganda Quality Quitting Reading Religion Respect Revolution Running Safety School Science Science And Religion Skins Slavery Society Son Sports Struggle Stupidity Style Success Suffering Sunday Sympathy Teaching Temptation Time Today Tragedy Trust Truth Virtue Voting Waiting War Water Weakness Wife Wisdom Work Writing Youth

I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave.

I believe that any man who takes the liberty of another into his keeping is bound to become a tyrant, and that any man who yields up his liberty, in however slight the measure, is bound to become a slave.

Freedom, Believe, Men

"Why Liberty?". Chicago Tribune, January 30, 1927.

Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.

Wise, Freedom, Men

Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them.

Funny, Laughter, Freedom

A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.

Freedom, Animal, Democracy

Remorse - Regret that one waited so long to do it.

Freedom, Regret, Long

"A Mencken Chrestomathy". Book by H. L. Mencken, 1949.

The argument that capital punishment degrades the state is moonshine, for if that were true then it would degrade the state to send men to war... The state, in truth, is degraded in its very nature: a few butcheries cannot do it any further damage.

Freedom, War, Men

The cosmos is a gigantic flywheel making 10,000 revolutions per minute. Man is a sick fly taking a dizzy ride on it.

Freedom, Men, Sick

Smart Set, Dec. 1920

The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians.

Christian, Freedom, Democracy

Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.

Faith, Freedom, Believe

Prejudices, Third Series ch. 14 (1922)

Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends.

Mother, Freedom, Law

"A Mencken Chrestomathy: His Own Selection of His Choicest Writing". Book edited by H. L. Mencken, 1949.

I believe in only one thing and that thing is human liberty. If ever a man is to achieve anything like dignity, it can happen only if superior men are given absolute freedom to think what they want to think and say what they want to say. I am against any man and any organization which seeks to limit or deny that freedom... [and] the superior man can be sure of freedom only if it is given to all men.

Freedom, Believe, Men

"Letters of H. L. Mencken". Book edited by Guy J. Forgue, 1961.

Firmness in decision is often merely a form of stupidity. It indicates an inability to think the same thing out twice.

Freedom, Thinking, Stupidity

Hanging one scoundrel, it appears, does not deter the next. Well, what of it? The first one is at least disposed of.

Freedom, Democracy, Doe

We must be willing to pay a price for freedom.

Freedom, Pay, Payment

H. L. MENCKEN (1924). “PREJUDICES FOURTH SERIES”

Truth would quickly cease to be stranger than fiction, once we got as used to it.

Truth, Freedom, Philosophy

H.L. Mencken “A little book in C major”, Рипол Классик

The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.

Freedom, Democracies Have, Evil

H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.154, Vintage

It is the fundamental theory of all the more recent American law...that the average citizen is half-witted, and hence not to be trusted to either his own devices or his own thoughts.

Freedom, Average, Law

Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.

Freedom, Justice, Bears

"Prejudices: Third Series".

All [zoos] actually offer to the public in return for the taxes spent upon them is a form of idle and witless amusement, compared to which a visit to a penitentiary, or even to a State legislature in session, is informing, stimulating and ennobling.

Zoos, Freedom, Political

H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.365, Vintage

I believe there is a limit beyond which free speech cannot go, but it's a limit that's very seldom mentioned. It's the point where free speech begins to collide with the right to privacy. I don't think there are any other conditions to free speech. I've got a right to say and believe anything I please, but I haven't got a right to press it on anybody else. .... Nobody's got a right to be a nuisance to his neighbors.

Freedom, Believe, Thinking

They have taken the care and upbringing of children out of the hands of parents, where it belongs, and thrown it upon a gang of irresponsible and unintelligent quacks.

Children, Freedom, Taken

I am against slavery simply because I dislike slaves.

Freedom, Political, Slavery

H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.616, Vintage

Of government, at least in democratic states, it may be said briefly that it is an agency engaged wholesale, and as a matter of solemn duty, in the performance of acts which all self-respecting individuals refrain from as a matter of common decency.

Freedom, Agency, Government

Truth - Something somehow discreditable to someone.

Freedom, Democracy

"A Mencken Chrestomathy". Book by H. L. Mencken, 1949.

What I admire most in any man is a serene spirit, a steady freedom from moral indignation, and all-embracing tolerance--in brief,what is commonly called sportsmanship.

Freedom, Men, Tolerance

H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.163, Vintage

You May Also Like: