A great nation is any mob of people which produces at least one honest man a century.
Interpretation
A great nation can be defined by the presence of integrity among its people.
H. L. Mencken's quote suggests that the moral fabric of a society can be gauged by the existence of individuals who exhibit honesty and integrity. Even if only a few such people emerge over the course of a century, it reflects positively on the nation as a whole and underscores the importance of ethical conduct in the broader context of societal values.
In practice
A keynote speech about the importance of honesty in governance could use this quote.
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.
For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.
A Christian man is on his guard with respect to those who philosophize according to the elements of this world, not according to God, by Whom the world itself was made; for he is warned by the precept of the apostle and faithfully hears what has been said, 'Beware that no one deceive you through philosophy and vain deceit, according to the elements of the world'
Satisfy your demand for reason but always remember that charity is beyond reason, and God can be known through charity.
There is perhaps nothing so admirable in Christianity and Buddhism as their art of teaching even the lowest to elevate themselves by piety to a seemingly higher order of things, and thereby to retain their satisfaction with the actual world in which they find it difficult enough to live - this very difficulty being necessary.
The more you know about Christ, the less you will be satisfied with superficial views of Him.
There is no language without deceit.
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