Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man. There has never been a really good one, and even those that are most tolerable are arbitrary, cruel, grasping and unintelligent.
Interpretation
The quote critiques government as a fundamental failure of civilization.
H. L. Mencken expresses a deep skepticism toward government, asserting that it has consistently failed to serve humanity effectively. He contends that even the best governments fall short, exhibiting traits of arbitrariness and cruelty, suggesting that the very nature of governance is flawed and often detrimental to society.
In practice
This quote could be used in a political debate to emphasize the failures of current governments.
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.
There is a universal reality in ourselves that aligns us with a universal reality that is everywhere.
Call no man happy till he is dead.
Human beings are religious animals.
In reality, the past is preserved by itself automatically.
We're all going to die, all of us, what a circus!
Responsibility, n. A detachable burden easily shifted to the shoulders of God, Fate, Fortune, Luck or one's neighbor. In the days of astrology it was customary to unload it upon a star.
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