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Life 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.
- The average man never really thinks from end to end of his life. The mental activity of such people is only a mouthing of clichés.
- How little it takes to make life unbearable: a pebble in the shoe, a cockroach in the spaghetti, a woman's laugh.
- My guess is that well over eighty per cent. of the human race goes through life without having a single original thought..
- There comes a time in every man's life when he's consumed by the desire to spit on his palms, hoist the black flag and start…
- Men always try to make virtues of their weaknesses. Fear of death and fear of life both become piety.
- There are two impossibilities in life: "just one drink" and "an honest politician."
- It is impossible to think of a man of any actual force and originality, universally recognized as having those qualities, who spent his whole life…
- A Galileo could no more be elected president of the United States than he could be elected Pope of Rome. Both high posts are reserved…
- Life without sex might be safer but it would be unbearably dull. It is the sex instinct which makes women seem beautiful, which they are…
- Good government is that which delivers the citizen from being done out of his life and property too arbitrarily and violently-one that relieves him sufficiently…
- Women decide the larger questions of life correctly and quickly, not because they are lucky guessers, not because they are divinely inspired, not because they…
- The average man gets his living by such depressing devices that boredom becomes a sort of natural state to him.
- Watching two women kiss is like watching two prizefighters shake 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…
- The theatre, when all is said and done, is not life in miniature, but life enormously magnified, life hideously exaggerated.
- You come into the world with nothing, and the purpose of your life is to make something out of nothing.
- The saddest life is that of a political aspirant under democracy. His failure is ignominious and his success is disgraceful.
- Lying is not only excusable; it is not only innocent; it is, above all, necessary and unavoidable. Without the ameliorations that it offers, life would…
- Human life is basically a comedy. Even its tragedies often seem comic to the spectator, and not infrequently they actually have comic touches to the…
- 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…
- 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,…
- Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.
- It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.
- I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.
More Ways to Read Life Quotes by H. L. Mencken
More Life Quotes
- Storytelling reveals meaning without committing the error of defining it. — Hannah Arendt
- Culture relates to objects and is a phenomenon of the world; entertainment relates to people and is a phenomenon of life. — Hannah Arendt
- We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for… — Hannah Arendt
- I do think the heart can balance out the mind, if your heart is in a good place it can give you… — Alexis Arguello
- I find that it's hard to fully examine one's life and not have faith be part of the discussion. — J. J. Abrams
- Wise people, even though all laws were abolished, would still lead the same life. — Aristophanes
- Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. — Aristotle
- Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies. — Aristotle
- We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. — Aristotle
- Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those… — Aristotle
- Happiness depends upon ourselves. — Aristotle
- I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self. — Aristotle