02 Apr H. L. Mencken

“School teachers, taking them by and large, are probably the most ignorant and stupid class of men in the whole group of mental workers.”

“Socialism is the theory that the desire of one man to get something he hasn’t got is more pleasing to a just God than the desire of some other man to keep what he has got.”

“The objection to Puritans is not that they try to make us think as they do, but that they try to make us do as they think.”

“At the bottom of Puritanism one finds envy of the fellow who is having a better time in the world, and hence hatred of him.”

“If there is one mental vice, indeed, which sets off the American people from all other folks who walk the earth…it is that of assuming that every human act must be either right or wrong, and that ninety-nine percent of them are wrong.”

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

H. L. Mencken’s insights more than 100 years ago reveal that the long-forgotten Puritans have resurrected as Progressives today.