--- title: "9 Arguing Quotes By H. L. Mencken" description: "9 Arguing quotes by H. L. Mencken. Plus more from H. L. Mencken and more Arguing sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb5/h-l-mencken-245_argue_never-argue-with-a-man-whose-job-depends_575804.png" --- > [Never argue with a man whose job depends on not being convinced.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/never-argue-with-a-man-whose-job-depends-on-not-being-convinced/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/eb5/h-l-mencken-245_argue_never-argue-with-a-man-whose-job-depends_575804.png) > [Who will argue that 98.6 Farenheit is the right temperature for man? As for me, I decline to do it. It may…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/who-will-argue-that-98-6-farenheit-is-the-right-temperature-for-man/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d3c/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_who-will-argue-that-98-6-farenheit-is-th_1161347.png) > [Osteopath--One who argues that all human ills are caused by the pressure of hard bone upon soft tissue. The proof of his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/osteopath-one-who-argues-that-all-human-ills-are-caused-by-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/195/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_osteopath-one-who-argues-that-all-human_3223281.png) > [To argue that the gaps in knowledge which confront the seeker must be filled, not by patient inquiry, but by intuition or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/to-argue-that-the-gaps-in-knowledge-which-confront-the-seeker-must-be/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/10c/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_to-argue-that-the-gaps-in-knowledge-whic_2038477.jpg) > [Even a superstitious man has certain inalienable rights: the right to harbor and indulge his imbecilities, provided only that he does not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/even-a-superstitious-man-has-certain-inalienable-rights-the-right-to/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3be/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_even-a-superstitious-man-has-certain-ina_1866224.png) > [It is often argued that religion is valuable because it makes men good, but even if this were true it would not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/it-is-often-argued-that-religion-is-valuable-because-it-makes-men/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/710/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_it-is-often-argued-that-religion-is-valu_2773095.jpg) > [That it should still be necessary, at this late stage in the senility of the human race to argue that women have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/that-it-should-still-be-necessary-at-this-late-stage-in-the-senility-2/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d30/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_that-it-should-still-be-necessary-at-thi_1299764.png) > [Communism, like any other revealed religion, is largely made up of prophecies. When they fail to come off its clergy simply say…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/communism-like-any-other-revealed-religion-is-largely-made-up-of/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13d/h-l-mencken-245_accepted_communism-like-any-other-revealed-religi_2315332.jpg) > [The notion that science does not concern itself with first causes - that it leaves the field to theology or metaphysics, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-notion-that-science-does-not-concern-itself-with-first-causes/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1a/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_the-notion-that-science-does-not-concern_2709799.png) ## Other authors on Arguing ## More by H. L. Mencken > [Alimony - the ransom that the happy pay to the devil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/alimony-the-ransom-that-the-happy-pay-to-the-devil/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [A bad artist almost always tries to conceal his incompetence by whooping up a new formula.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/a-bad-artist-almost-always-tries-to-conceal-his-incompetence-by/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [ By profession a biologist, \[Thomas Henry Huxley\] covered in fact the whole field of the exact sciences, and then bulged through its four fences.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/by-profession-a-biologist-thomas-henry-huxley-covered-in-fact-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [So few men are really worth knowing, that it seems a shameful waste to let an anthropoid prejudice stand in the way of free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/so-few-men-are-really-worth-knowing-that-it-seems-a-shameful-waste-to/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Man's objection to love is that it dies hard; woman's, that when it is dead, it stays dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/man-s-objection-to-love-is-that-it-dies-hard-woman-s-that-when-it-is/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [The lunatic fringe wags the underdog.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-lunatic-fringe-wags-the-underdog/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [For it is an absurdity to call a country civilized in which a decent and industrious man, laboriously mastering a trade which is valuble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-an-absurdity-to-call-a-country-civilized-in-which-a-decent/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Women have simple tastes. They get pleasure out of the conversation of children in arms and men in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/women-have-simple-tastes-they-get-pleasure-out-of-the-conversation-of/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [The critic, to interpret his artist, even to understand his artist, must be able to get into the mind of his artist; he must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-critic-to-interpret-his-artist-even-to-understand-his-artist-must/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [There is, in fact, nothing about religious opinions that entitles them to any more respect than other opinions get. On the contrary, they tend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/there-is-in-fact-nothing-about-religious-opinions-that-entitles-them/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Don't overestimate the decency of the human race.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/don-t-overestimate-the-decency-of-the-human-race/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Liberty ... was a two-headed boon. There was first, the liberty of the people as a whole to determine the forms of their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/liberty-was-a-two-headed-boon-there-was-first-the-liberty-of-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [To the extent that I am genuinely educated, I am suspicious of all the things that the average citizen believes and the average pedagogue…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/to-the-extent-that-i-am-genuinely-educated-i-am-suspicious-of-all-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Philosophy first constructs a scheme of happiness and then tries to fit the world to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/philosophy-first-constructs-a-scheme-of-happiness-and-then-tries-to/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [For it is the natural tendency of the ignorant to believe what is not true. In order to overcome that tendency it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-the-natural-tendency-of-the-ignorant-to-believe-what-is-not/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "ItemList", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/arguing/h-l-mencken/#itemlist", "name": "9 Arguing Quotes By H. L. 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Mencken" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/even-a-superstitious-man-has-certain-inalienable-rights-the-right-to/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3be/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_even-a-superstitious-man-has-certain-ina_1866224.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3be/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_even-a-superstitious-man-has-certain-ina_1866224.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3be/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_even-a-superstitious-man-has-certain-ina_1866224.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Even a superstitious man has certain inalienable rights: the right to harbor and indulge his imbecilities…” — H. L. Mencken", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "It is often argued that religion is valuable because it makes men good, but even if this were true it would not be a proof that religion is true. That would be an extension of pragmatism beyond endurance. Santa Claus makes children good in precisely the same way, and yet no one would argue seriously that the fact proves his existence. The defense of religion is full of such logical imbecilities.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "H. L. Mencken" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/it-is-often-argued-that-religion-is-valuable-because-it-makes-men/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/710/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_it-is-often-argued-that-religion-is-valu_2773095.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/710/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_it-is-often-argued-that-religion-is-valu_2773095.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/710/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_it-is-often-argued-that-religion-is-valu_2773095.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It is often argued that religion is valuable because it makes men good, but even if this were true it would…” — H. L. Mencken", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "That it should still be necessary, at this late stage in the senility of the human race to argue that women have a fine and fluent intelligence is surely an eloquent proof of the defective observation, incurable prejudice, and general imbecility of their lords and masters.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "H. L. Mencken" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/that-it-should-still-be-necessary-at-this-late-stage-in-the-senility-2/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d30/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_that-it-should-still-be-necessary-at-thi_1299764.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d30/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_that-it-should-still-be-necessary-at-thi_1299764.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d30/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_that-it-should-still-be-necessary-at-thi_1299764.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“That it should still be necessary, at this late stage in the senility of the human race to argue that women…” — H. L. Mencken", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Communism, like any other revealed religion, is largely made up of prophecies. When they fail to come off its clergy simply say that they will be realized later on. Thus, if we have another boom, they will argue that the collapse of capitalism is only postponed. The fact that the greatest booms ever heard of followed Marx's formal prophecy of the downfall of capitalism is already forgotten, just as millions have long since forgotten the early Christian prophecy that the end of the world was at hand. The first Christians accepted postponements as docilely as the Communists of today.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "H. L. Mencken" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/communism-like-any-other-revealed-religion-is-largely-made-up-of/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13d/h-l-mencken-245_accepted_communism-like-any-other-revealed-religi_2315332.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13d/h-l-mencken-245_accepted_communism-like-any-other-revealed-religi_2315332.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/13d/h-l-mencken-245_accepted_communism-like-any-other-revealed-religi_2315332.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Communism, like any other revealed religion, is largely made up of prophecies. When they fail to come off…” — H. L. Mencken", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } } }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 9, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "The notion that science does not concern itself with first causes - that it leaves the field to theology or metaphysics, and confines itself to mere effects - this notion has no support in the plain facts. If it could, science would explain the origin of life on earth at once - and there is every reason to believe that it will do so on some not too remote tomorrow. To argue that gaps in knowledge which will confront the seeker must be filled, not by patient inquiry, but by intuition or revelation, is simply to give ignorance a gratuitous and preposterous dignity.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "H. L. Mencken" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-notion-that-science-does-not-concern-itself-with-first-causes/", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1a/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_the-notion-that-science-does-not-concern_2709799.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1a/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_the-notion-that-science-does-not-concern_2709799.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/d1a/h-l-mencken-245_arguing_the-notion-that-science-does-not-concern_2709799.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“The notion that science does not concern itself with first causes - that it leaves the field to theology or…” — H. L. 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