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 Wisdom

• Progress: The process whereby the human race has got rid of whiskers, the vermiform appendix, and God. Appendix
• The way to deal with superstition is not to be polite to it, but to tackle it with all arms, and so rout it, cripple… All
• One seldom discovers a true believer that is worth knowing Believer
• The American people, taking one with another, constitute the most timorous, snivelling, poltroonish, ignominious mob of serfs and goosesteppers ever gathered under one flag in… Age
• As long as you represent me as praising alcohol I shall not complain, Alcohol
• I drink exactly as much as I want, and one drink more. Drink
• The Jews could be put down very plausibly as the most unpleasant race ever heard of. As commonly encountered they lack any of the qualities… Any
• It is more blessed to give than receive; for example, wedding presents. Blessed
• To wage a war for a purely moral reason is as absurd as to ravish a woman for a purely moral reason Absurd
• The sort of man who likes to spend his time watching a cage of monkeys chase one another, or a lion gnaw its tail, or… Cage
• After all, why be good? How many will actually believe it of us? Actually Believe
• The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same… Aim
• Courtroom : A place where Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot would be equals, with the betting odds favoring Judas. America
• All government, of course, is against liberty. All
• No form of liberty is worth a darn [sic] which doesn't give us the right to do wrong now and then. Darn
• The fact is that the average man's love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary, exactly like his love of sense, justice and truth. Liberty is not… Average
• Elections are futures markets in stolen property. Election
• The average man gets his living by such depressing devices that boredom becomes a sort of natural state to him. Average
• The fact is that liberty, in any true sense, is a concept that lies quite beyond the reach of the inferior man's mind. And no… Any
• Wherever I sit is the head of the table. Head
• Why do men delight in work? Fundamentally, I suppose, because there is a sense of relief and pleasure in getting something done - a kind… Delight
• Is it hot in the rolling mill? Are the hours long? Is $15 a day not enough? Then escape is easy. Simply throw up your… Day
• Watching two women kiss is like watching two prizefighters shake hands. Hands
• There is, in fact, no reason to believe that any given natural phenomenon, however marvelous it may seem today, will remain forever inexplicable. Soon or… Account
• The theatre, when all is said and done, is not life in miniature, but life enormously magnified, life hideously exaggerated. All

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