I know of no existing nation that deserves to live, and I know of very few individuals. — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
When I hear artists or authors making fun of businessmen, I think of a regiment in which the band makes fun of… — H. L. Mencken Art Copy Share Image
He sailed through American history like a steel ship loaded with monoliths of granite. — H. L. Mencken American history Copy Share Image
The war on privilege will never end. Its next grat campaign will be against the special privileges of the underprivileged. — H. L. Mencken Campaigns Copy Share Image
The saddest life is that of a political aspirant under democracy. His failure is ignominious and his success is disgraceful. — H. L. Mencken Democracy Copy Share Image
If the average man is made in God's image, then such a man as Beethoven or Aristotle is plainly superior to God. — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
I can't imagine a genuinely intelligent boy getting much out of college, even out of a good college, save it be a… — H. L. Mencken Boys Copy Share Image
Socialist: A man suffering from an overwhelming conviction to believe what is not true. — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
If x is the population of the United States and y is the degree of imbecility of the average American, then democracy… — H. L. Mencken American democracy Copy Share Image
It is the fundamental theory of all the more recent American law...that the average citizen is half-witted, and hence not to be… — H. L. Mencken America Copy Share Image
The New Deal began, like the Salvation Army, by promising to save humanity. It ended, again like the Salvation Army, by running… — H. L. Mencken Army Copy Share Image
The acting that one sees upon the stage does not show how human beings comport themselves in crises, but how actors think… — H. L. Mencken Acting Copy Share Image
It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency.… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
That it should still be necessary, at this late stage in the senility of the human race to argue that women have… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
Osteopath--One who argues that all human ills are caused by the pressure of hard bone upon soft tissue. The proof of his… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
People do not expect to find chastity in a whorehouse. Why, then, do they expect to find honesty and humanity in government,… — H. L. Mencken Chastity Copy Share Image
There is no possibility whatsoever of reconciling science and theology, at least in Christendom. Either Jesus arose from the dead or He… — H. L. Mencken Agnostic Copy Share Image
All government, in its essence, is a conspiracy against the superior man: it's one permanent object is to oppress him and cripple… — H. L. Mencken Combat Copy Share Image
The most curious social convention of the great age in which we live is the one to the effect that religious opinions… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
It seems to me that you are better off, as a writer and as an American, in a small town than you'd… — H. L. Mencken American writer Copy Share Image
The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
Government, in its very essence, is opposed to all increase in knowledge. Its tendency is always towards permanence and against change...[T]he progress… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
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 Ability Copy Share Image
What is any political campaign save a concerted effort to turn out a set of politicians who are admittedly bad and put… — H. L. Mencken Assumption Copy Share Image
Youth, though it may lack knowledge, is certainly not devoid of intelligence; it sees through shams with sharp and terrible eyes. — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
Democracy must be a sound scheme at bottom, else it would not survive such cruel strains. — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
Man's objection to love is that it dies hard: women's, that when it is dead it stays dead. — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
No sane man objects to palpable lies about him; what he objects to is damaging facts. — H. L. Mencken Facts Copy Share Image
Hanging one scoundrel, it appears, does not deter the next. Well, what of it? The first one is at least disposed of. — H. L. Mencken Democracy Copy Share Image
Any man who, having a child or children he can't support, proceeds to have another should be sterilized at once. — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
It doesn't take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause. — H. L. Mencken Determined Copy Share Image
Next to the semi-colon, quotation marks seem to be the chief butts of reformatory ardor. — H. L. Mencken Ardor Copy Share Image
Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood. — H. L. Mencken Anarchy Copy Share Image
No romantic novel ever written in America, by man or woman, is one half so beautiful as My Ántonia. — H. L. Mencken America Copy Share Image
Men have a much better time of it than women. For one thing, they marry later; for another thing, they die earlier. — H. L. Mencken Marriage Copy Share Image
Whenever you hear a man speak of his love for his country, it is a sign that he expects to be paid… — H. L. Mencken Country Copy Share Image
School teachers, taking them by and large, are probably the most ignorant and stupid class of men in the whole group of… — H. L. Mencken Class Copy Share Image
There is no record in human history of a happy philosopher: they exist only in romantic legend. — H. L. Mencken History Copy Share Image
What ass first let loose the doctrine that the suffrage is a high boon and voting a noble privilege? — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
The final test of truth is ridicule. Very few dogmas have ever faced it and survived. — H. L. Mencken Dogma Copy Share Image
![“Government, in its very essence, is opposed to all increase in knowledge. Its tendency is always towards permanence and against change...[T]he progress of humanity, far from being the result of government, has been made entirely without its aid and in the face if its constant and bitter opposition.” quote by H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f1e/h-l-mencken-245_aids_government-in-its-very-essence-is-oppose_2900850.png)
