H. L. Mencken Quotes About Libertarianism

• The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.

  H. L. Mencken

  Peace, Freedom, War

• The ideal Government of all reflective men, from Aristotle onward, is one which lets the individual alone - one which barely escapes being no government at all.

  H. L. Mencken

  Men, Liberty, Libertarian

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.146, Vintage

• I believe in only one thing: liberty; but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it upon anyone.

  H. L. Mencken

  Peace, Freedom, War

• Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Ignorance, Majority Rule

  "Notes On Journalism". Chicago Tribune, September 19, 1926.

• We suffer most when the White House busts with ideas.

  H. L. Mencken

  Ideas, White, House

• What men value in this world is not rights but privileges.

  H. L. Mencken

  Leadership, Men, Rights

  H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.34, Knopf

• Most people want security in this world, not liberty.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, People, Liberty

  H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.172, Knopf

• 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.

  H. L. Mencken

  Freedom, Average, Law

• The American people, North and South, went into the [Civil] war as citizens of their respective states, they came out as subjects ... what they thus lost they have never got back.

  H. L. Mencken

  War, People, Liberty

• The New Deal began, like the Salvation Army, by promising to save humanity. It ended, again like the Salvation Army, by running flop-houses and disturbing the peace.

  H. L. Mencken

  Running, Army, House

  H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.622, Vintage

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

  H. L. Mencken

  Gun, Rights, Hands

  "On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe". Book by H L. Mencken, 1956.

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