--- title: "4 Charming Quotes By H. L. Mencken" description: "4 Charming quotes by H. L. Mencken. Plus more from H. L. Mencken and more Charming sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1fa/h-l-mencken-245_accepted_as-long-as-the-southern-colleges-have-re_471635.jpg" --- > [As long as the Southern colleges have revivals on their campuses and students get converted to Methodism and join the YMCA and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/as-long-as-the-southern-colleges-have-revivals-on-their-campuses-and/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1fa/h-l-mencken-245_accepted_as-long-as-the-southern-colleges-have-re_471635.jpg) > [All the charming and beautiful things, from the Song of Songs, to bouillabaisse, and from the nine Beethoven symphonies to the Martini…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/all-the-charming-and-beautiful-things-from-the-song-of-songs-to/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/4d0/h-l-mencken-245_alcohol_all-the-charming-and-beautiful-things-fr_1063377.png) > [Only to often on meeting scientific men, even those of genuine distiction, one finds that they are dull fellows and very stupid.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/only-to-often-on-meeting-scientific-men-even-those-of-genuine/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/9b0/h-l-mencken-245_charming_only-to-often-on-meeting-scientific-men_1535142.png) > [The harsh, useful things of the world, from pulling teeth to digging potatoes, are best done by men who are as starkly…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-harsh-useful-things-of-the-world-from-pulling-teeth-to-digging/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/52c/h-l-mencken-245_alcohol_the-harsh-useful-things-of-the-world-fro_2939248.png) ## Other authors on Charming ## 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/charming/h-l-mencken/#itemlist", "name": "4 Charming Quotes By H. L. Mencken", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "As long as the Southern colleges have revivals on their campuses and students get converted to Methodism and join the YMCA and are accepted as gentlemen, it will be impossible to think of the South as civilized...The educated folk of the Old South took theology lightly, and religion to them was hardly more than a charming ritual, useful on solemn occassions.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "H. L. 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