--- title: "4 Contempt Quotes By H. L. Mencken" description: "4 Contempt quotes by H. L. Mencken. Plus more from H. L. Mencken and more Contempt sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34f/h-l-mencken-245_american-citizens_to-large-numbers-of-american-citizens-li_227119.png" --- > [To large numbers of American citizens life in certain parts of the country becomes intolerably hazardous. They may be seized on any…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/to-large-numbers-of-american-citizens-life-in-certain-parts-of-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/34f/h-l-mencken-245_american-citizens_to-large-numbers-of-american-citizens-li_227119.png) > [A woman usually respects her father, but her view of her husband is mingled with contempt, for she is of course privy…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/a-woman-usually-respects-her-father-but-her-view-of-her-husband-is/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f51/h-l-mencken-245_contempt_a-woman-usually-respects-her-father-but_1161338.png) > [The storm center of lawlessness in every American State is the State Capitol. It is there that the worst crimes are committed;…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-storm-center-of-lawlessness-in-every-american-state-is-the-state/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/74d/h-l-mencken-245_capitol_the-storm-center-of-lawlessness-in-every_2215716.jpg) > [The only cure for contempt is counter-contempt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-only-cure-for-contempt-is-counter-contempt/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e37/h-l-mencken-245_contempt_the-only-cure-for-contempt-is-counter-co_2806695.png) ## Other authors on Contempt - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b010/author-friedrich-nietzsche-36363.jpg) Friedrich Nietzsche 23 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/friedrich-nietzsche/) - [Samuel Johnson 13 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/samuel-johnson/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-francois-de-la-rochefoucauld-146.jpg) Francois de La Rochefoucauld 11 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/francois-de-la-rochefoucauld/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b016/author-lord-chesterfield-61094.jpg) Lord Chesterfield 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/lord-chesterfield/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b003/author-albert-einstein-10494.jpg) Albert Einstein 8 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/albert-einstein/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b024/author-william-shakespeare-95899.jpg) William Shakespeare 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/william-shakespeare/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b004/author-arthur-schopenhauer-15054.jpg) Arthur Schopenhauer 7 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/arthur-schopenhauer/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b024/author-william-hazlitt-95511.jpg) William Hazlitt 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/william-hazlitt/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b020/author-robert-green-ingersoll-79794.jpg) Robert Green Ingersoll 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/robert-green-ingersoll/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b018/author-noam-chomsky-71799.jpg) Noam Chomsky 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/noam-chomsky/) - [Mark Twain 6 quotes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/mark-twain/) - [ ![](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/uploads/sms4s/authors/processed/b001/author-leo-tolstoy-55.jpg) Leo Tolstoy 6 quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/contempt/leo-tolstoy/) ## 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/contempt/h-l-mencken/#itemlist", "name": "4 Contempt Quotes By H. L. Mencken", "numberOfItems": 4, "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "item": { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "To large numbers of American citizens life in certain parts of the country becomes intolerably hazardous. They may be seized on any pretext, however flimsy, and put to death with horrible tortures. No government pretending to be civilized can go on condoning such atrocities. Either it must make every possible effort to put them down or it must suffer the scorn and contempt of Christendom.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "H. L. 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