[The] erroneous assumption is to the effect that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence, and so make them fit to discharge the duties of citizenship in an enlightened and independent manner. Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed and train a standardised citizenry, to put down dissent and originality.
H. L. MenckenThe objection to Puritans is not that they try to make us think as they do, but that they try to make us do as they think.
H. L. MenckenHistory deals mainly with captains and kings, gods and prophets, exploiters and despoilers, not with useful men.
H. L. Mencken