From Mencken to Machiavelli

A reader sent these in:

"There's no underestimating the intelligence of the American public."
-- H.L. Mencken

"If you have a weak candidate and a weak platform, wrap yourself up in the American flag."
-- Matt Quay, 1886

"If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it."
-- Joseph Goebbels, German Minister of Propaganda, 1933-1945

"Politics is the conduct of public affairs for private advantage."
-- Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary

"The Prince must seem to be religious."
-- Machiavelli

"You can fool too many of the people too much of the time."
-- James Thurber