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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
American politics2 quotes
Maybe you can't override prejudice overnight, but the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, ninety-odd years ago. I believe in gradualism. I also believe that ninety-odd years is pretty gradual. — Thurgood Marshall · 1987In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. — Spiro Agnew · 1970Political theory2 quotes
Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust. — John Rawls · 1971The 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. — H.L. Mencken · 1918Adaptability1 quote
That's the part of it I always liked. He adjusted himself to beams falling, and then no more of them fell, and he adjusted himself to them not falling. — Dashiell Hammett · 1930America1 quote
In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. — Spiro Agnew · 1970American culture1 quote
South Sea natives who have been exposed to American movies classify them into two types, "kiss-kiss" and "bang-bang." — Hortense Powdermaker · 1950American elite1 quote
A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals. — Spiro Agnew · 1969Animal cruelty1 quote
Now and then a visitor wept, to be sure; but this slaughtering machine ran on, visitors or no visitors. It was like some horrible crime committed in a dungeon, all unseen and unheeded, buried out of sight and of memory. — Upton Sinclair · 1905Anti-Americanism1 quote
A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals. — Spiro Agnew · 1969Artists1 quote
The great artists of the world are never Puritans, and seldom even ordinarily respectable. — H.L. Mencken · 1919Beliefs1 quote
How long will the human race sweat under the superstition that, in order to be happy and useful and intelligent, it is necessary to believe in things? What nonsense indeed! Human progress consists, not in acquiring beliefs, but in getting rid of them. — H.L. Mencken · 1921Capital punishment1 quote
The measure of a country's greatness is its ability to retain compassion in times of crisis. — Thurgood Marshall · 1972Capitalism1 quote
Capitalism undoubtedly has certain boils and blotches upon it, but has it as many as government? Has it as many as marriage? Has it as many as religion? I doubt it. It is the only basic institution of modern man that shows any genuine health and vigor. — H.L. Mencken · 1928Civil rights1 quote
Maybe you can't override prejudice overnight, but the Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863, ninety-odd years ago. I believe in gradualism. I also believe that ninety-odd years is pretty gradual. — Thurgood Marshall · 1987Communication1 quote
Ideal conversation is an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory. — Emily Post · 1922Conformity1 quote
To do exactly as your neighbors do is the only sensible rule. — Emily Post · 1922Constitutional law1 quote
If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch. — Thurgood Marshall · 1969Conversation1 quote
Ideal conversation is an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory. — Emily Post · 1922Custom and convention1 quote
To do exactly as your neighbors do is the only sensible rule. — Emily Post · 1922Democracy1 quote
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. — H.L. Mencken · 1916Difficult truths1 quote
When someone tells me a piece of the truth which has been withheld from me, and which I needed in order to see my life more clearly, it may bring acute pain, but it can flood me with a cold, sea-sharp wash of relief. — Adrienne Rich · 1975Downsides of freedom1 quote
The average man doesn't want to be free. He simply wants to be safe. — H.L. Mencken · 1926Drugs1 quote
A drug is neither moral or immoral-it's a chemical compound. The compound itself is not a menace to society until a human being treats it as if consumption bestowed a temporary licence to act like an asshole. — Frank Zappa · 1989Elites1 quote
A spirit of national masochism prevails, encouraged by an effete corps of impudent snobs who characterize themselves as intellectuals. — Spiro Agnew · 1969Elusiveness of truth1 quote
Nine times out of ten, in the arts as in life, there is actually no truth to be discovered; there is only error to be exposed. — H.L. Mencken · 1922Faith1 quote
Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable. — H.L. Mencken · 1922First Amendment1 quote
If the First Amendment means anything, it means that a State has no business telling a man, sitting alone in his own house, what books he may read or what films he may watch. — Thurgood Marshall · 1969Freedom vs. safety1 quote
The average man doesn't want to be free. He simply wants to be safe. — H.L. Mencken · 1926Good conversation1 quote
Ideal conversation is an exchange of thought, and not, as many of those who worry most about their shortcomings believe, an eloquent exhibition of wit or oratory. — Emily Post · 1922Hollywood1 quote
South Sea natives who have been exposed to American movies classify them into two types, "kiss-kiss" and "bang-bang." — Hortense Powdermaker · 1950Incentives1 quote
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it. — Upton Sinclair · 1935