What men value in this world is not rights but privileges.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes that people often prioritize special benefits over their basic rights.
H. L. Mencken's quote suggests that in society, individuals tend to value privileges—special advantages or entitlements—more than their fundamental rights, which are meant to be guaranteed for all. This implies a critical view of human nature and societal values, where the pursuit of personal benefits overshadows the importance of universal justice and equality.
In practice
In a discussion about social justice, this quote can illustrate how privileges can sometimes overshadow the recognition of basic rights.
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.
Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful. It's the transition that's troublesome.
Infinite power of the spirit, brought to bear upon matter evolves material development, made to act upon thought evolves intellectuality, and made to act upon itself makes of man a God. First, let us be Gods, and then help other to be GOds. Be and Make. Let this be our motto.
To conclude that women are unfitted to the task of our historic society seems to me the equivalent of closing male eyes to female facts.
The great things in life are what they seem to be. And for that reason, strange as it may sound to you, often are very difficult to interpret (understand). Great passions are for the great of souls. Great events can only be seen by people who are on a level with them. We think we can have our visions for nothing. We cannot. Even the finest and most self-sacrificing visions have to be paid for. Strangely enough, that is what makes them fine.
Do not do an immoral thing for moral reasons.
The madness of mobs or the insolence of soldiers, or both, when too near to each other, occasion some mischief.
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