Facts Quotes by H. L. Mencken

A large part of altruism, even when it is perfectly honest, is grounded upon the fact that it is uncomfortable to have…

— H. L. Mencken

No sane man objects to palpable lies about him; what he objects to is damaging facts.

— 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,…

— H. L. Mencken

The fact that a human brain of high amperage, otherwise highly efficient, may have a hole in it is surely not a…

— H. L. Mencken

The objection to a Communist always resolves itself into the fact that he is not a gentleman.

— H. L. Mencken

One of the things that makes a Negro unpleasant to white folk is the fact that he suffers from their injustice. He…

— H. L. Mencken

I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood,…

— H. L. Mencken

The Jews fastened their religion upon the Western world, not because it was more reasonable than the religions of their contemporaries -…

— H. L. Mencken

I am, in fact, the complete anti-Messiah, and detest converts almost as much as I detest missionaries. My writings, such as they…

— H. L. Mencken

Here is tragedy - and here is America. For the curse of the country, as well of all democracies, is precisely the…

— H. L. Mencken

But I wonder where we will land if trial judges begin deciding that the fact that a man has committed an atrocious…

— H. L. Mencken

The psychologists and the metaphysicians wrangle endlessly over the nature of the thinking process in man, but no matter how violently they…

— H. L. Mencken

The theory behind representative government is that superior men-or at least men not inferior to the average in ability and integrity-are chosen…

— H. L. Mencken

[Science] must be amoral by its very nature: The minute it begins separating facts into the two categories of good ones and…

— H. L. Mencken

What reason is there for believing that a high death rate, in itself, is undesirable? To my knowledge none whatever. The plain…

— H. L. Mencken

The fact is that the average man's love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary, exactly like his love of sense, justice and truth.…

— H. L. Mencken

Of all the classes of men, I dislike the most those who make their livings by talking - actors, clergymen, politicians, pedagogues,…

— H. L. Mencken

I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs. There is in every living creature an…

— H. L. Mencken

The fact is that liberty, in any true sense, is a concept that lies quite beyond the reach of the inferior man's…

— H. L. Mencken

It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their one apparent…

— H. L. Mencken

When a candidate for public office faces the voters he does not face men of sense; he faces a mob of men…

— H. L. Mencken

The notion that science does not concern itself with first causes - that it leaves the field to theology or metaphysics, and…

— H. L. Mencken

The essential dilemma of education is to be found in the fact that the sort of man (or woman) who knows a…

— H. L. Mencken

Nine out of ten Americans are actually monarchists at bottom. The fact is proved by their high suseptibility to political claims by…

— H. L. Mencken

It is difficult to imagine anyone having any real hopes for the human race in the face of the fact that the…

— H. L. Mencken

A Galileo could no more be elected president of the United States than he could be elected Pope of Rome. Both high…

— H. L. Mencken

The average woman must inevitably view her actual husband with a certain disdain; he is anything but her ideal. In consequence, she…

— H. L. Mencken

I devoured hot-dogs in Baltimore 'way back in 1886, and they were then very far from newfangled...They contained precisely the same rubber,…

— H. L. Mencken

The essence of a sound style is that it cannot be reduced to rules-that it is a living and breathing thing with…

— H. L. Mencken

Communism, like any other revealed religion, is largely made up of prophecies. When they fail to come off its clergy simply say…

— H. L. Mencken

I hope I need not confess that a large part of my stock in trade consists of platitudes rescued from the cobwebbed…

— H. L. Mencken

It is often argued that religion is valuable because it makes men good, but even if this were true it would not…

— H. L. Mencken

Only to often on meeting scientific men, even those of genuine distiction, one finds that they are dull fellows and very stupid.…

— H. L. Mencken

There is, in fact, no reason to believe that any given natural phenomenon, however marvelous it may seem today, will remain forever…

— 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…

— H. L. Mencken