--- title: "5 Detest Quotes By H. L. Mencken" description: "5 Detest quotes by H. L. Mencken. Plus more from H. L. Mencken and more Detest sayings from other authors." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1be/h-l-mencken-245_agnostic_i-detest-converts-almost-as-much-as-i-do_377122.png" --- > [I detest converts almost as much as I do missionaries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/i-detest-converts-almost-as-much-as-i-do-missionaries/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/1be/h-l-mencken-245_agnostic_i-detest-converts-almost-as-much-as-i-do_377122.png) > [I am, in fact, the complete anti-Messiah, and detest converts almost as much as I detest missionaries. My writings, such as they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/i-am-in-fact-the-complete-anti-messiah-and-detest-converts-almost-as/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ff2/h-l-mencken-245_cows_i-am-in-fact-the-complete-anti-messiah-a_1797567.png) > [I never lecture, not because I am shy or a bad speaker, but simply because I detest the sort of people who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/i-never-lecture-not-because-i-am-shy-or-a-bad-speaker-but-simply/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/0a0/h-l-mencken-245_detest_i-never-lecture-not-because-i-am-shy-or_1957609.png) > [It seems to me that you are better off, as a writer and as an American, in a small town than you'd…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/it-seems-to-me-that-you-are-better-off-as-a-writer-and-as-an-american/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/690/h-l-mencken-245_american-writer_it-seems-to-me-that-you-are-better-off-a_2007204.jpg) > [The American people, I am convinced, really detest free speech. At the slightest alarm they are ready and eager to put it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-american-people-i-am-convinced-really-detest-free-speech-at-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/5c1/h-l-mencken-245_alarms_the-american-people-i-am-convinced-reall_2392384.png) ## 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/detest/h-l-mencken/#itemlist", "name": "5 Detest Quotes By H. L. 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