"Here is tragedy - and here is..." - Quote by H L Mencken
Here is tragedy - and here is America. For the curse of the country, as well of all democracies, is precisely the fact that it treats its best men as enemies. The aim of our society, if it may be said to have an aim, is to iron them out. The ideal American, in the public sense, is a respectable vacuum.
More by H L Mencken
“Nine times out of ten, in the arts as in life, there is actually no truth to be discovered; there is only error to be exposed.”
“In every woman's life there is one real and consuming love. But very few women guess which one it is.”
“Whenever A annoys or injures B on the pretense of saving or improving X, A is a scoundrel.”
More on American Society
“The common notion that free speech prevails in the United States always makes me laugh.”
“The only definition by which America's best days are behind it is on a purely relative basis.”
“What fetched me instantly (and thousands of other newcomers with me) was the subtle but unmistakable sense of escape from the United States.”
More on Democracy
“The truest test of a democracy is in the ability of anyone to act as he likes, so long as he does not injure the life or property of anyone else.”
“I think I will still feel that same appreciation for what [Winston] Churchill and others have said is the worst form of government except all the alternatives.”
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”