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“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
― On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe
― On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe
“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”
― Notes on Democracy
― Notes on Democracy
“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”
― A Mencken Chrestomathy
― A Mencken Chrestomathy
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”
― In Defense of Women
― In Defense of Women
“The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.”
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Barb’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Barb’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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