Knows Quotes by H. L. Mencken

Why writers write I do not know. As well ask why a hen lays an egg or why a cow stands patiently…

— H. L. Mencken

The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

— H. L. Mencken

I know of no existing nation that deserves to live, and I know of very few individuals.

— H. L. Mencken

What the meaning of human life may be I don't know: I incline to suspect that it has none.

— H. L. Mencken

Liberty and democracy are eternal enemies, and every one knows it who has ever given any sober reflection to the matter.

— H. L. Mencken

The common man knows exactly what he wants...and deserves to get it good and hard.

— H. L. Mencken

The most satisfying and ecstatic faith is almost purely agnostic. It trusts absolutely without professing to know at all.

— H. L. Mencken

Philosophy, as the modern world knows it, is only intellectual club-swinging.

— H. L. Mencken

Sin is a dangerous toy in the hands of the virtuous. It should be left to the congenitally sinful, who know when…

— H. L. Mencken

When I think of anything properly describable as a beautiful idea, it is always in the form of music. I have written…

— H. L. Mencken

All great religions, in order to escape absurdity, have to admit a dilution of agnosticism. It is only the savage, whether of…

— H. L. Mencken

As for me, my literary theory, like my politics, is based chiefly upon one main idea, to wit, the idea of freedom.…

— H. L. Mencken

Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely…

— H. L. Mencken

I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free…

— H. L. Mencken

No professional politician is ever actually in favor of public economy. It is his implacable enemy, and he knows it. All professional…

— H. L. Mencken

A man who knows a subject thoroughly, a man so soaked in it that he eats it, sleeps it and dreams it-…

— H. L. Mencken

Probably the worst thing that has happened in America in my time is the decay of confidence in the courts. No one…

— H. L. Mencken

No one in this world, so far as I know--and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help…

— H. L. Mencken

It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone - that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows more…

— H. L. Mencken

All the great enterprises of the world are run by a few smart men: their aides and associates run down by rapid…

— H. L. Mencken

The art of politics, under democracy, is simply the art of ringing it. Two branches reveal themselves. There is the art of…

— H. L. Mencken

I am never much interested in the effects of what I write…I seldom read with any attention the reviews of my...books. Two…

— H. L. Mencken

I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One…

— H. L. Mencken

The so-called Philosophy of India is even more blowsy and senseless than the metaphysics of the West. It is at war with…

— H. L. Mencken

I know of no human being who has a better time than an eager and energetic young reporter.

— 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

A metaphysician is one who, when you remark that twice two makes four, demands to know what you mean by twice, what…

— H. L. Mencken

Of all the human qualities, the one I admire the most is competence. A tailor who is really able to cut and…

— H. L. Mencken

Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely…

— 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

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