Liberty and democracy are eternal enemies.
—H.L. Mencken, 1925
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Quotes
One’s friends are divided into two classes, those one knows because one must and those one knows because one mustn’t.
—Sybil Taylor, 1922There is only one honest impulse at the bottom of puritanism, and that is the impulse to punish the man with a superior capacity for happiness.
—H.L. Mencken, 1920Men are merriest when they are from home.
—William Shakespeare, 1599Only the little people pay taxes.
—Leona Helmsley, 1989Our nature lies in movement; complete calm is death.
—Blaise Pascal, c. 1640Corporations have neither bodies to be punished nor souls to be damned.
—Chinese proverbWe must consider that we shall be a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us, so that if we deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.
—John Winthrop, 1630One must love people a good deal whom one takes pains to convince or instruct.
—Mary de la Riviere Manley, 1720Hunting is all that’s worth living for—all time is lost what is not spent in hunting—it is like the air we breathe—if we have it not we die—it’s the sport of kings, the image of war without its guilt.
—Robert Smith Surtees, 1843If you are truly serious about preparing your child for the future, don’t teach him to subtract—teach him to deduct.
—Fran Lebowitz, 1981Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.
—Francis Bacon, 1625Don’t lose your mind unless you have paid for it.
—Stanisław Jerzy Lec, 1957