H. L. Mencken ✓

(1880–1956) autobiographer United States

641 quotes in 6164 categories

[Wikidata] American journalist and writer (1880–1956)... | [Wikipedia] Henry Louis Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on literature, music, prominent politicians, and contemporary movements. His satirical reporting on the Scopes Trial, which he dubbed the "Monkey Trial", also ear

Best H. L. Mencken Quotes

• The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it is true because he gets… Average
• The idea that leisure is of value in itself is only conditionally true. The average man simply spends his leisure as a dog spends it.… All
• The lunatic fringe wags the underdog. Fringe
• When I mount the scaffold at last these will be my farewell words to the sheriff: Say what you will against me when I am… Add
• The most satisfying and ecstatic faith is almost purely agnostic. It trusts absolutely without professing to know at all. Absolutely
• Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.... A man full of faith is simply one who has… Agnosticism
• God is the immemorial refuge of the incompetent, the helpless, and the miserable. They find not only sanctuary in his arms, but also a kind… Agnosticism
• New York is the place where all the aspirations of the western world meet to form one vast master aspiration, as powerful as the suction… All
• The most disgusting cad in the world is the man who on the grounds of decorum and morality avoids the game of love. He is… Avoids
• The fundamental trouble with marriage is that it shakes a man's confidence in himself, and so greatly diminishes his general competence and effectiveness. His habit… Battle
• A man of active and resilient mind outwears his friendships just as certainly as he outwears his love affairs, his politics and his epistemology. Active
• The wholly manly man lacks the wit necessary to give objective form to his soaring and secret dreams, and the wholly womanly woman is apt… All
• The allurement that women hold out to men is precisely the allurement that Cape Hatteras holds out to sailors; they are enormously dangerous and hence… Allurement
• A man always blames the woman who fools him. In the same way he blames the door he walks into in the dark. Always Blames
• There is no record in the history of a nation that ever gained anything valuable by being unable to defend itself. Anything Valuable
• Man weeps to think that he will die so soon; woman, that she was born so long ago. Ago
• There are two kinds of music; German music and bad music. Bad
• My guess is that well over eighty per cent. of the human race goes through life without having a single original thought.. Cent
• The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy. Cure
• Complete masculinity and stupidity are often indistinguishable. Complete
• God is a Republican, and Santa Claus is a Democrat. Claus
• The fact that I have no remedy for all the sorrows of the world is no reason for my accepting yours. It simply supports the… Accepting
• The chief knowledge that a man gets from reading books is the knowledge that very few of them are worth reading. Book
• There are two kinds of books. Those that no one reads and those that no one ought to read. Book
• The curse of man, and the cause of nearly all his woe, is his stupendous capacity for believing the incredible. All

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