H. L. Mencken Quotes

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H. L. Mencken

• Politics
• Safety
• Aim

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Quotes to Explore

• I have my problems with 'Singles'. To me, 'Singles' is the least successful of the movies I've been lucky enough to make.

  

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• Information of fundamental importance to the general problem of atomic structure has resulted from systematic studies of the cosmic radiation carried out by the Wilson cloud-chamber method.

  

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• I'm a reader of Chinese literature, I like their films, but also: I've had great difficulty getting my work published in China; very little of it has been published there. The first two attempts to have all of my work published, for instance, were refused without any reason ever being given.

  

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• After the 9/11 incidents, Islam has become a big question mark among westerners, especially Americans. The mass media constantly raise the issue of relationship between Islam and terrorism.

  

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• I try to basically keep my opinions to myself when it comes to people who are charged with crimes that I don't know anything about.

  

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• The mystified idea I had of Israel - the demonization of Israel - it just wasn't true.

  

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• In the theater, it's a visceral and physical response because you move around so much. You have to do something physical to pull you in. On TV or in movies, everything is so small. You can just lock into a character and ease yourself into that way.

  

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• No one person is an island.

  

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• Everybody's social life in Jordan revolves around family.

  

  Queen Rania of Jordan
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• I usually have two or three books on the go at the same time. If I'm in different moods, I want to read different things.

  

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• Everything we do helps the new artists in the long run.

  

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• The verdict of the world is conclusive.

  

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• Of course the job has a lot of glamour. But it really is about being smarter than your average bear. Your mind is your best weapon. It's great when you're a good shot with an AK-47, but it's about being clever.

  

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• In Zurich, in a cafe overlooking the Limmat, I ate butter-drenched white asparagus pulled from the ground that morning; it had the aftertaste of champagne. I've been able to appreciate epic meals in San Francisco, New Orleans, Berlin, Paris, Las Vegas.

  

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• At times one feels that what is being said in the West is that the fact that you are a Muslim predisposes you to this blind, stupid terrorism.

  

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• There is something terribly morbid in the modern sympathy with pain. One should sympathise with the colour, the beauty, the joy of life. The less said about life's sores the better.

  

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• Am I a criminal? The world knows I'm not a criminal. What are they trying to put me in jail for? You've lost common sense in this society because of religious fanaticism and dogma.

  

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• I'm terrified of walking into a room full of people. Sitting down at a dinner table with 15 strangers brings me out in a sweat.

  

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• It's going to be tough. It will say a lot about where we are as a team. It will say a lot about where we end up this season. This is a big trip, no doubt.

  

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• But the working I would always want to do.

  

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• My giving story started with my parents - my late mother, Frances Arrillaga, who dedicated her life to philanthropic and community service, and my father, John Arrillaga, whose daily generosity of heart, mind, and hands-on contributions make him one of the most extraordinary philanthropists I know.

  

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• The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

  

  H. L. Mencken
  • Politics
  • Safety
  • Aim