Governments, whatever their pretensions otherwise, try to preserve themselves by holding the individual down ... Government itself, indeed, may be reasonably defined as a conspiracy against him. Its one permanent aim, whatever its form, is to hobble him sufficiently to maintain itself.
Interpretation
This quote critiques government's tendency to limit individual freedom to sustain its own power.
H. L. Mencken argues that governments inherently act to suppress individual liberties to protect their own existence. He suggests that all forms of government, regardless of their claims to promote freedom, ultimately conspire against the individual by imposing restrictions that ensure their continued authority and control.
In practice
In a political debate about individual rights and government control, this quote can be used to illustrate concerns over government overreach.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
When you speak of heaven, let your face light up...When you speak of hell well then, your everyday face will do.
So our human life but dies down to its root, and still puts forth its green blade to eternity.
Clouds come floating into my life from other days no longer to shed rain or usher storm but to give colour to my sunset sky.
The priestly vocation is essentially a call to sanctity, in the form that derives from the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Sanctity is intimacy with God; it is the imitation of Christ, poor, chaste and humble; it is unreserved love for souls and self-giving to their true good; it is love for the church which is holy and wants us to be holy, because such is the mission that Christ has entrusted to it. Each one of you must be holy also in order to help your brothers pursue their vocation to sanctity.
When one is in town one amuses oneself. When one is in the country one amuses other people. It is excessively boring.
It comes so soon, the moment when there is nothing left to wait for.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.