Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten… — H. L. Mencken Commandments Copy Share Image
Balloonists have an unsurpassed view of the scenery, but there is always the possibility that it may collide with them. — H. L. Mencken Balloons Copy Share Image
The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself. — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
The theatre, when all is said and done, is not life in miniature, but life enormously magnified, life hideously exaggerated. — H. L. Mencken Actor Copy Share Image
All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it. — H. L. Mencken Frauds Copy Share Image
The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it is true… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
A man full of faith is simply one who has lost the capacity for clear and realistic thought. — H. L. Mencken Agnosticism Copy Share Image
The kind of man who demands that government enforce his ideas is always the kind whose ideas are idiotic. — H. L. Mencken Demand Copy Share Image
I never lecture, not because I am shy or a bad speaker, but simply because I detest the sort of people who… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
It is [a politician's] business to get and hold his job at all costs. If he can hold it by lying, he… — H. L. Mencken Business Copy Share Image
To argue that the gaps in knowledge which confront the seeker must be filled, not by patient inquiry, but by intuition or… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
If there had been any formidable body of cannibals in the country, Harry Truman would have promised to provide them with free… — H. L. Mencken Body Copy Share Image
If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink… — H. L. Mencken Epitaph Copy Share Image
A living language is like a man suffering incessantly from small hemorrhages, and what it needs above all else is constant transactions… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
Capitalism undoubtedly has certain boils and blotches upon it, but has it as many as government? Has it as many as marriage?… — H. L. Mencken Capitalism Copy Share Image
All successful newspapers are ceaselessly querulous and bellicose. They never defend anyone or anything if they can help it; if the job… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
Even a superstitious man has certain inalienable rights: the right to harbor and indulge his imbecilities, provided only that he does not… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
Consider... the university professor. What is his function? Simply to pass on to fresh generations of numskulls a body of so-called knowledge… — H. L. Mencken Avarice Copy Share Image
To be happy one must be (a) well fed, unhounded by sordid cares, at ease in Zion, (b) full of a comfortable… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
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 Copy Share Image
Liberty is of small value to the lower third of humanity. They greatly prefer security, which means protection by some class above… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
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 Breathing Copy Share Image
In the United States...politics is purged of all menace, all sinister quality, all genuine significance, and stuffed with such gorgeous humors, such… — H. L. Mencken Campaigns Copy Share Image
A sound American is simply one who has put out of his mind all doubts and questionings, and who accepts instantly, and… — H. L. Mencken Ability Copy Share Image
High-toned humanitarians constantly overestimate the sufferings of those they sympathize with. — H. L. Mencken Humanitarianism Copy Share Image
It is impossible to imagine the universe run by a wise, just and omnipotent God, but it is quite easy to imagine… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public. — H. L. Mencken American public Copy Share Image
Courtroom : A place where Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot would be equals, with the betting odds favoring Judas. — H. L. Mencken America Copy Share Image
Lawyer: one who protects us against robbery by taking away the temptation. — H. L. Mencken Democracy Copy Share Image
Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, it is seldom necessary… — H. L. Mencken Fool Copy Share Image
Women always excel men in that sort of wisdom which comes from experience. To be a woman is in itself a terrible… — H. L. Mencken Feminism Copy Share Image
One may no more live in the world without picking up the moral prejudices of the world than one will be able… — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
Let's not burn the universities yet. After all, the damage they do might be worse. — H. L. Mencken Damage Copy Share Image
Morality is the theory that every human act must be either right or wrong, and that 99 % of them are wrong. — H. L. Mencken Character Copy Share Image
No matter how long he lives, no man ever becomes as wise as the average woman of forty-eight. — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
The average man gets his living by such depressing devices that boredom becomes a sort of natural state to him. — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup. — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
For me to go into politics would be like sending a virgin into a house of ill-repute. — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. — H. L. Mencken Common people Copy Share Image
A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier. — H. L. Mencken Copy Share Image
![“It is [a politician's] business to get and hold his job at all costs. If he can hold it by lying, he will hold it by lying; if lying peters out, he will try to hold it by embracing new truths. His ear is ever close to the ground.” quote by H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f30/h-l-mencken-245_business_it-is-a-politician-s-business-to-get-and_410481.png)
