Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

Great H. L. Mencken quote

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread		 This topic is archived.
Home » Discuss » The DU Lounge Donate to DU
 
russian33 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 12:09 PM
Original message
Great H. L. Mencken quote
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)


My friend just sent me this quote, rings true today...But, I must admit, I have no idea who this Mencken is...can someone fill this ignorant bastard in? Thanks!
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
bif Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 12:12 PM
Response to Original message
1. Here
A reporter, columnist and editor for Baltimore's Sun papers (1906-48), H. L. Mencken was one of America's foremost men of letters during the first part of the 20th century. A sharp critic of hypocrisy in religion and politics, he was especially well-known in the 1920s for his witty and insightful commentaries on the wretchedness of humanity. He edited the satirical magazines The Smart Set (1914-23) and American Mercury (1925-33) (along with George Jean Nathan) and published collected essays (Prejudices, 6 volumes, 1919-27) and books, including the philological undertaking The American Language (1919). Less popular in his later years, in 1948 he suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered. In recent years his literary reputation has suffered as a result of charges that he was a racist and anti-Semite.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
russian33 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 12:13 PM
Response to Reply #1
3. Thanks!
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Iris Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 12:52 PM
Response to Reply #1
10. Wasn't he considered the "father of modern journalism"? n/t
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Huckebein the Raven Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 12:12 PM
Response to Original message
2. here:
http://www.bookrags.com/biography/henry-louis-mencken/


-I love his quotes
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Bozita Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 12:32 PM
Response to Original message
4. Excellent! ... Thanks
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Kire Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 12:32 PM
Response to Original message
5. is this the du jour quote of the week?
Edited on Mon Nov-15-04 12:33 PM by Kire
it's great and all, but everybody and their brother is sending it to me. Has anybody else noticed this?

why wasn't it sent around in 2000?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
realisticphish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 04:57 PM
Response to Reply #5
12. well
we didnt think the people elected him that time :shrug:

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Bozita Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 12:41 PM
Response to Original message
6. "Judge: a law student who marks his own papers"
another Mencken beauty
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
KoKo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 12:43 PM
Response to Original message
7. Here are a few more great Mencken Quotes:
http://www.fightthebias.com/Quotes/mencken.htm

Quotes - H.L. Mencken



"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule." --H. L. Mencken





The only good bureaucrat is one with a pistol at his head. Put it in his hand and it's good-by to the Bill of Rights.
-- H.L. Mencken

"The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods."



"It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their one apparent purpose, pursued with a relentless and furious diligence, is to convert the assumption into a fact. They hunt endlessly for proofs, and, when proofs are lacking, for mere suspicions. The moment they become aware of a definite citizen, John Doe, seeking what is his right under the law, they begin searching feverishly for an excuse for withholding it from him." --H.L. Mencken



"People constantly speak of 'the government' doing this or that, as they might speak of God doing it. But the government is really nothing but a group of men, and usually they are very inferior men. They may have some better man working for them, but they themselves are seldom worthy of any respect." --H.L. Mencken



"Economic independence is the foundation of the only sort of freedom worth a damn." --H.L. Mencken
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Spider Jerusalem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 12:45 PM
Response to Original message
8. That's a pretty good one...
I have a Mencken quote in my signature line (which you can't see, right now)...

"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 invariably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And if he is not romantic personally, he is apt to spread discontent among those who are."
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Bozita Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 12:51 PM
Response to Original message
9. Here's a G B Shaw gem that reflects Bush's Amerika:
"There are scores of thousands of human insects who are ready at a moment's notice to reveal the will of God on every possible subject." -- George Bernard Shaw
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Bozita Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 04:40 PM
Response to Original message
11. kicking for all of the curmudgeons
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Tafiti Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 04:58 PM
Response to Original message
13. Another Mencken quote, also relevant today...
..."No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people."
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
no name no slogan Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-15-04 04:59 PM
Response to Original message
14. A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin
My personal favorite from Mencken.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Mon May 06th 2024, 08:47 AM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » The DU Lounge Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC