Quote by H. L. Mencken

Democracy is also a form of religion. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses.


Democracy is also a form of religion. It is the worship of j

Summary

This quote suggests that democracy can be seen as a type of religion, with the people who practice it being referred to as "jackasses" and the leaders being referred to as "jackals." It implies that democracy is a flawed system, possibly emphasizing the view that some individuals lack the wisdom or intelligence to effectively participate in governing themselves and electing suitable leaders. The quote conveys a cynical perspective, critiquing the belief in democracy as blind worship of those who may not possess the best intentions or capabilities.

By H. L. Mencken
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Some of you, we all know, are poor, find it hard to live, are sometimes, as it were, gasping for breath. I have no doubt that some of you who read this book are unable to pay for all the dinners which you have actually eaten, or for the coats and shoes which are fast wearing or are already worn out, and have come to this page to spend borrowed or stolen time, robbing your creditors of an hour. It is very evident what mean and sneaking lives many of you live, for my sight has been whetted by experience; always on the limits, trying to get into business and trying to get out of debt, a very ancient slough, called by the Latins aes alienum, another's brass, for some of their coins were made of brass; still living, and dying, and buried by this other's brass; always promising to pay, promising to pay, tomorrow, and dying today, insolvent; seeking to curry favor, to get custom, by how many modes, only not state-prison offences; lying, flattering, voting, contracting yourselves into a nutshell of civility or dilating into an atmosphere of thin and vaporous generosity, that you may persuade your neighbor to let you make his shoes, or his hat, or his coat, or his carriage, or import his groceries for him; making yourselves sick, that you may lay up something against a sick day, something to be tucked away in an old chest, or in a stocking behind the plastering, or, more safely, in the brick bank; no matter where, no matter how much or how little.

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