« All First Quotes · H. L. Mencken's Page
First Quotes by H. L. Mencken
- Everyman is thoroughly happy twice in his life, just after he has met his first love, and just after he has left his last one.
- Two simple principles lie at the bottom of the whole matter, and they may be precipitated into two rules. The first is that, when there…
- The first kiss is stolen by the man; the last is begged by the woman.
- Life may not be exactly pleasant, but it is at least not dull. Heave yourself into Hell today, and you may miss, tomorrow or next…
- Every step in human progress, from the first feeble stirrings in the abyss of time, has been opposed by the great majority of men. Every…
- Liberty ... was a two-headed boon. There was first, the liberty of the people as a whole to determine the forms of their own government,…
- What are the hallmarks of a competent writer of fiction? The first, it seems to me, is that he should be immensely interested in human…
- A man always remembers his first love with special tenderness, but after that he begins to bunch them.
- Civilization, in fact, grows more maudlin and hysterical; especially under democracy it tends to degenerate into a mere combat of crazes; the whole aim of…
- The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws…
- The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of truth - that the error and truth…
- Democracy is grounded upon so childish a complex of fallacies that they must be protected by a rigid system of taboos, else even halfwits would…
- Hanging one scoundrel, it appears, does not deter the next. Well, what of it? The first one is at least disposed of.
More First Quotes
- No punishment has ever possessed enough power of deterrence to prevent the commission of crimes. On the contrary, whatever the punishment, once… — Hannah Arendt
- The spirit of Ubuntu, that once led Haiti to emerge as the first independent black nation in 1804, helped Venezuela, Colombia and… — Jean-Bertrand Aristide
- The first time Haiti had free and fair democratic elections was 1990, when I was elected. — Jean-Bertrand Aristide
- I am lucky, I'm the first to admit that. — J. J. Abrams
- Courage is the first of human qualities because it is the quality which guarantees the others. — Aristotle
- For though we love both the truth and our friends, piety requires us to honor the truth first. — Aristotle
- He who is to be a good ruler must have first been ruled. — Aristotle
- In making a speech one must study three points: first, the means of producing persuasion; second, the language; third the proper arrangement… — Aristotle
- Retired is being tired twice, I've thought, first tired of working, then tired of not. — Richard Armour
- The first time that you escape from home or the small town that you live in - there's a reason a small… — Billie Joe Armstrong
- For some young people, their first experience ever hearing punk rock music was playing the Green Bay Packers on 'Madden'. — Billie Joe Armstrong
- Ironically, the first thing that appealed to me about Islam was its pluralism. The fact that the Koran praises all the great… — Karen Armstrong