---
title: "18 Citizens Quotes By H. L. Mencken"
description: "18 Citizens quotes by H. L. Mencken. Plus more from H. L. Mencken and more Citizens sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a3/h-l-mencken-245_american-people_the-american-people-north-and-south-went_2057722.png"
---

> [ The American people, North and South, went into the \[Civil\] war as citizens of their respective states, they came out as subjects… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-american-people-north-and-south-went-into-the-civil-war-as/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/2a3/h-l-mencken-245_american-people_the-american-people-north-and-south-went_2057722.png)

> [The only way that a government can provide for jobs for all citizens is by deciding what every man should do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-only-way-that-a-government-can-provide-for-jobs-for-all-citizens/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/81c/h-l-mencken-245_citizens_the-only-way-that-a-government-can-provi_2439521.png)

> [It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/it-is-the-theory-of-all-modern-civilized-governments-that-they/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e38/h-l-mencken-245_citizens_it-is-the-theory-of-all-modern-civilized_864746.jpg)

> [It is the fundamental theory of all the more recent American law...that the average citizen is half-witted, and hence not to be…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/it-is-the-fundamental-theory-of-all-the-more-recent-american-law-that/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/623/h-l-mencken-245_america_it-is-the-fundamental-theory-of-all-the_676409.jpg)

> [ \[Government\] is apprehended, not as a committee of citizens chosen to carry on the communal business of the whole population, but as… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/government-is-apprehended-not-as-a-committee-of-citizens-chosen-to/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0ec/h-l-mencken-245_autonomous_government-is-apprehended-not-as-a-commi_1115230.jpg)

> [The only guarantee of the Bill of Rights which continues to have any force and effect is the one prohibiting quartering troops…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-only-guarantee-of-the-bill-of-rights-which-continues-to-have-any/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/82b/h-l-mencken-245_bill-of-rights_the-only-guarantee-of-the-bill-of-rights_741009.png)

> [A sound American is simply one who has put out of his mind all doubts and questionings, and who accepts instantly, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/a-sound-american-is-simply-one-who-has-put-out-of-his-mind-all-doubts/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/574/h-l-mencken-245_ability_a-sound-american-is-simply-one-who-has-p_3159871.png)

> [Under the pressure of fanaticism, and with the mob complacently applauding the show, democratic law tends more and more to be grounded…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/under-the-pressure-of-fanaticism-and-with-the-mob-complacently/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/49b/h-l-mencken-245_antiquity_under-the-pressure-of-fanaticism-and-wit_1947745.jpg)

> [Good government is that which delivers the citizen from being done out of his life and property too arbitrarily and violently-one that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/good-government-is-that-which-delivers-the-citizen-from-being-done/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9f3/h-l-mencken-245_barbaric_good-government-is-that-which-delivers-t_3066985.png)

> [When a private citizen is robbed, a worthy man is deprived of the fruits of his industry and thrift; when the government…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/when-a-private-citizen-is-robbed-a-worthy-man-is-deprived-of-the/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/333/h-l-mencken-245_certain_when-a-private-citizen-is-robbed-a-worth_646075.png)

> [Every lynching deprives its victim of his life without due process of law, and denies him an equal protection of the law.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/every-lynching-deprives-its-victim-of-his-life-without-due-process-of/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/330/h-l-mencken-245_citizens_every-lynching-deprives-its-victim-of-hi_1680504.png)

> [To large numbers of American citizens life in certain parts of the country becomes intolerably hazardous. They may be seized on any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/to-large-numbers-of-american-citizens-life-in-certain-parts-of-the/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34f/h-l-mencken-245_american-citizens_to-large-numbers-of-american-citizens-li_227119.png)

> [The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-aim-of-public-education-is-not-to-spread-enlightenment-at-all-it/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a30/h-l-mencken-245_aim_the-aim-of-public-education-is-not-to-sp_859308.png)

> [ It \[the State\] has taken on a vast mass of new duties and responsibilities; it has spread out its powers until they… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/it-the-state-has-taken-on-a-vast-mass-of-new-duties-and/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/c4a/h-l-mencken-245_agents_it-the-state-has-taken-on-a-vast-mass-of_717956.png)

> [No man could bring himself to reveal his true character, and, above all, his true limitations as a citizen and a Christian,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/no-man-could-bring-himself-to-reveal-his-true-character-and-above-all/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/a79/h-l-mencken-245_autobiography_no-man-could-bring-himself-to-reveal-his_1991883.jpg)

> [It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their one apparent…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/it-is-the-invariable-habit-of-bureaucracies-at-all-times-and/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e9/h-l-mencken-245_all-time_it-is-the-invariable-habit-of-bureaucrac_1475091.png)

> [A free citizen in a free state, it seems to me, has an inalienable right to play with whomsoever he will, so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/a-free-citizen-in-a-free-state-it-seems-to-me-has-an-inalienable/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/65c/h-l-mencken-245_citizens_a-free-citizen-in-a-free-state-it-seems_859467.png)

> [And what is a good citizen? Simply one who never says, does or thinks anything that is unusual. Schools are maintained in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/and-what-is-a-good-citizen-simply-one-who-never-says-does-or-thinks/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cbe/h-l-mencken-245_certain_and-what-is-a-good-citizen-simply-one-wh_1653105.png)

## Other authors on Citizens

## More by H. L. Mencken

> [Alimony - the ransom that the happy pay to the devil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/alimony-the-ransom-that-the-happy-pay-to-the-devil/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [A bad artist almost always tries to conceal his incompetence by whooping up a new formula.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/a-bad-artist-almost-always-tries-to-conceal-his-incompetence-by/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [ By profession a biologist, \[Thomas Henry Huxley\] covered in fact the whole field of the exact sciences, and then bulged through its four fences.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/by-profession-a-biologist-thomas-henry-huxley-covered-in-fact-the/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [So few men are really worth knowing, that it seems a shameful waste to let an anthropoid prejudice stand in the way of free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/so-few-men-are-really-worth-knowing-that-it-seems-a-shameful-waste-to/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [Man's objection to love is that it dies hard; woman's, that when it is dead, it stays dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/man-s-objection-to-love-is-that-it-dies-hard-woman-s-that-when-it-is/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [The lunatic fringe wags the underdog.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-lunatic-fringe-wags-the-underdog/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [For it is an absurdity to call a country civilized in which a decent and industrious man, laboriously mastering a trade which is valuble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-an-absurdity-to-call-a-country-civilized-in-which-a-decent/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [Women have simple tastes. They get pleasure out of the conversation of children in arms and men in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/women-have-simple-tastes-they-get-pleasure-out-of-the-conversation-of/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [The critic, to interpret his artist, even to understand his artist, must be able to get into the mind of his artist; he must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-critic-to-interpret-his-artist-even-to-understand-his-artist-must/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [There is, in fact, nothing about religious opinions that entitles them to any more respect than other opinions get. On the contrary, they tend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/there-is-in-fact-nothing-about-religious-opinions-that-entitles-them/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [Don't overestimate the decency of the human race.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/don-t-overestimate-the-decency-of-the-human-race/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [Liberty ... was a two-headed boon. There was first, the liberty of the people as a whole to determine the forms of their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/liberty-was-a-two-headed-boon-there-was-first-the-liberty-of-the/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [To the extent that I am genuinely educated, I am suspicious of all the things that the average citizen believes and the average pedagogue…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/to-the-extent-that-i-am-genuinely-educated-i-am-suspicious-of-all-the/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [Philosophy first constructs a scheme of happiness and then tries to fit the world to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/philosophy-first-constructs-a-scheme-of-happiness-and-then-tries-to/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

> [For it is the natural tendency of the ignorant to believe what is not true. In order to overcome that tendency it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-the-natural-tendency-of-the-ignorant-to-believe-what-is-not/)

[H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/)

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                        "text": "A sound American is simply one who has put out of his mind all doubts and questionings, and who accepts instantly, and as incontrovertible gospel, the whole body of official doctrine of his day, whatever it may be and no matter how often it may change. The instant he challenges it, no matter how timorously and academically, he ceases by that much to be a loyal and creditable citizen of the republic.",
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                        "text": "Under the pressure of fanaticism, and with the mob complacently applauding the show, democratic law tends more and more to be grounded upon the maxim that every citizen is, by nature, a traitor, a libertine, and a scoundrel. In order to dissuade him from his evil-doing the police power is extended until it surpasses anything ever heard of in the oriental monarchies of antiquity.",
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                        "text": "Good government is that which delivers the citizen from being done out of his life and property too arbitrarily and violently-one that relieves him sufficiently from the barbaric business of guarding them to enable him to engage in gentler, more dignified, and more agreeable undertakings...",
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                        "text": "When a private citizen is robbed, a worthy man is deprived of the fruits of his industry and thrift; when the government is robbed, the worst that happens is that certain rogues and loafers have less money to play with than they had before.",
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                        "text": "Every lynching deprives its victim of his life without due process of law, and denies him an equal protection of the law. The States are charged with punishing all such invasions as the common rights of the citizens, but some of them have failed in their effort to do so, and others have not honestly tried. Meanwhile, lynchings continue, and though they do not increase in number, they show some tendency to increase in savagery.",
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                        "text": "To large numbers of American citizens life in certain parts of the country becomes intolerably hazardous. They may be seized on any pretext, however flimsy, and put to death with horrible tortures. No government pretending to be civilized can go on condoning such atrocities. Either it must make every possible effort to put them down or it must suffer the scorn and contempt of Christendom.",
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                        "text": "The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States, whatever the pretensions of politicians, pedagogues, and other such mountebanks, and that is its aim everywhere else...Their purpose, in brief, is to make docile and patriotic citizens, to pile up majorities, and to make John Doe and Richard Doe as nearly alike, in their everyday reactions and ways of thinking, as possible.",
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                        "text": "It [the State] has taken on a vast mass of new duties and responsibilities; it has spread out its powers until they penetrate to every act of the citizen, however secret; it has begun to throw around its operations the high dignity and impeccability of a State religion; its agents become a separate and superior caste, with authority to bind and loose, and their thumbs in every pot. But it still remains, as it was in the beginning, the common enemy of all well-disposed, industrious and decent men.",
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                        "text": "No man could bring himself to reveal his true character, and, above all, his true limitations as a citizen and a Christian, his true meannesses, his true imbecilities, to his friends, or even to his wife. Honest autobiography is therefore a contradiction in terms: the moment a man considers himself, even in petto, he tries to gild and fresco himself. Thus a man's wife, however realistic her view of him, always flatters him in the end, for the worst she sees in him is appreciably better, by the time she sees it, than what is actually there.",
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                        "text": "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.",
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                        "text": "A free citizen in a free state, it seems to me, has an inalienable right to play with whomsoever he will, so long as he does not disturb the general peace. If any other citizen, offended by the spectacle, makes a pother, then that other citizen, and not the man exercising his inalienable right, should be put down by the police.",
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                        "text": "And what is a good citizen? Simply one who never says, does or thinks anything that is unusual. Schools are maintained in order to bring this uniformity up to the highest possible point. A school is a hopper into which children are heaved while they are still young and tender; therein they are pressed into certain standard shapes and covered from head to heels with official rubber-stamps.",
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