"We must think of human progress, not as……" — H. L. Mencken
"We must think of human progress, not as of something going on in the race in general, but as something going on in a small minority, perpetually beleaguered in a few walled towns. Now and then the horde of barbarians outside breaks through, and we have an armed effort to halt the process. That is, we have a Reformation, a French Revolution, a war for democracy, a Great Awakening. The minority is decimated and driven to cover. But a few survive- and a few are enough to carry on."
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H. L. Mencken
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647 Quotes by H. L. Mencken
H. L. Mencken has 647 quotes on this site.
A few more worth reading:
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A man full of faith is simply one who has lost the capacity for clear and realistic thought.
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Religion deserves no more respect than a pile of garbage.
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When I die, I shall be content to vanish into nothingness.... No show, however good, could conceivably be good forever…
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People say we need religion when what they really mean is we need police.
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Everyman is thoroughly happy twice in his life, just after he has met his first love, and just after he…
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Well, I tell you, if I have been wrong in my agnosticism, when I die I'll walk up to God…
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The Old Testament, as everyone who has looked into it is aware, drips with blood; there is, indeed, no more…
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Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt.
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To every complex question there is a simple answer and it is wrong...
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The average man never really thinks from end to end of his life. The mental activity of such people is…
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I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind - that its modest and greatly overestimated services…
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Goverment is actually the worst failure of civilized man. There has never been a really good one, and even those…
See all 647 quotes by H. L. Mencken »
More Armed Quotes
This quote is filed under Armed Quotes,
one of 612 quotes in that category. Here are a few more:
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These people were well dressed in skins, had some guns, but armed generally with bows and arrows and such other…
— William Henry Ashley
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The question of sexual dominance can exist only in the nightmare of that soul which has armed itself, totally, against…
— James A. Baldwin
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In the past I have defended the right of the IRA to engage in armed struggle. I did so because…
— Gerry Adams
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It's totally mistaken to suppose that an armed escort is going to give a journalist any protection - on the…
— Kate Adie
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I have, thanks to my travels, added to my stock all the superstitions of other countries. I know them all…
— Sarah Bernhardt
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I felt only as a man can feel who is roaming over the prairies of the far West, well armed,…
— Buffalo Bill
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As a matter of international law, the United States is in an armed conflict with al-Qa'ida, the Taliban, and associated…
— John O. Brennan
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The United States is the first nation to regularly conduct strikes using remotely piloted aircraft in an armed conflict. Other…
— John O. Brennan
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Those who gave thee a body, furnished it with weakness; but He who gave thee Soul, armed thee with resolution.…
— Akhenaton
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But if our hopes are betrayed, if we are forced to resist the invasion of our soil, and to defend…
— King Albert II
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I rejected the armed struggle because, as a Christian, I am committed to a nonviolent and peaceful struggle. But people…
— Mangosuthu Buthelezi
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We've gotten a long way on missile defense. We know how to do it. We know how to take down…
— Dick Cheney
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