H. L. Mencken Quotes About Justice

• The fact is that the average man's love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary, exactly like his love of sense, justice and truth... Liberty is not a thing for the great masses of men. It is the exclusive possession of a small and disreputable minority, like knowledge, courage and honor. It takes a special sort of man to understand and enjoy liberty - and he is usually an outlaw in democratic societies.

  H. L. Mencken

  Love, Courage, Men

  "The Baltimore Sun" Newspaper, February 12, 1923.

• A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers.

  H. L. Mencken

  Funny, Law, Justice

• When I mount the scaffold at last these will be my farewell words to the sheriff: Say what you will against me when I am gone, but don't forget to add, in common justice, that I was never converted to anything.

  H. L. Mencken

  Life, Goodbye, Farewell

  Baltimore Evening Sun, June 12, 1922.

• Time is a great legalizer, even in the field of morals

  H. L. Mencken

  Time, Justice, Fields

  A Book of Prefaces ch. 4 (1917)

• Whenever "A" attempts by law to impose his moral standards upon "B," "A" is most likely a scoundrel.

  H. L. Mencken

  Life, War, Government

• A sense of humor always withers in the presence of the messianic delusion, like justice and the truth in front of patriotic passion.

  H. L. Mencken

  Passion, Humor, Patriotic

  "H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: First, Second, and Third Series".

• One of the things that makes a Negro unpleasant to white folk is the fact that he suffers from their injustice. He is thus a standing rebuke to them.

  H. L. Mencken

  White, Justice, Diversity

  H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.271, Knopf

• The fact is that the average man's love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary, exactly like his love of sense, justice and truth.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Average, Justice

  H.L. Mencken (2013). “Second Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.113, Vintage

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

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Justice, Bears

  "Prejudices: Third Series".

• Liberty ... was a two-headed boon. There was first, the liberty of the people as a whole to determine the forms of their own government, to levy their own taxes, and to make their own laws.... There was second, the liberty of the individual man to live his own life, within the limits of decency and decorum, as he pleased -- freedom from the despotism of the majority.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Law, Two

  Lapham's Quarterly, Alexander Hamilton, Ezra Pound, Richard Hofstadter, Thomas Jefferson (2016). “Alexander Hamilton: Lapham's Quarterly - Special Issue”, p.124, Pronoun

• Justice is what you get when you run out of money.

  H. L. Mencken

  Running, Justice

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