« All True Quotes · H. L. Mencken's Page
True Quotes by H. L. Mencken
- The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it is true because he gets…
- The idea that leisure is of value in itself is only conditionally true. The average man simply spends his leisure as a dog spends it.…
- The true bureaucrat is a man of really remarkable talents. He writes a kind of English that is unknown elsewhere in the world, and an…
- One seldom discovers a true believer that is worth knowing
- 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…
- For it is the natural tendency of the ignorant to believe what is not true. In order to overcome that tendency it is not sufficient…
- The acting that one sees upon the stage does not show how human beings comport themselves in crises, but how actors think they ought to.…
- All of the great patriots now engaged in edging and squirming their way toward the Presidency of the Republic run true to form. That is…
- Socialist: A man suffering from an overwhelming conviction to believe what is not true.
- The public, with its mob yearning to be instructed, edified and pulled by the nose, demands certainties; it must be told definitely and a bit…
- No man could bring himself to reveal his true character, and, above all, his true limitations as a citizen and a Christian, his true meannesses,…
- Platitude: an idea (a) that is admitted to be true by everyone, and (b) that is not true.
- The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.
- To die for an idea; it is unquestionably noble. But how much nobler it would be if men died for ideas that were true!
- The true function of art is to criticize, embellish and edit nature… the artist is a sort of impassioned proof-reader, blue penciling the bad spelling…
- It is often argued that religion is valuable because it makes men good, but even if this were true it would not be a proof…
- The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
- The argument that capital punishment degrades the state is moonshine, for if that were true then it would degrade the state to send men to…
More True Quotes
- I stay true to myself and my style, and I am always pushing myself to be aware of that and be original. — Aaliyah
- Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really… — Hannah Arendt
- Perugia is my true fatherland because there I grew to manhood. — Pietro Aretino
- In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are a sure refuge. The young they keep out of mischief; to the… — Aristotle
- To run away from trouble is a form of cowardice and, while it is true that the suicide braves death, he does… — Aristotle
- True information does good. — Julian Assange
- Originality is the essence of true scholarship. Creativity is the soul of the true scholar. — Nnamdi Azikiwe
- Live never to be ashamed if anything you say or do is published around the world, even if what is said is… — Richard Bach
- Religions have always stressed that compassion is not only central to religious life, it is the key to enlightenment and it the… — Karen Armstrong
- True heroism is remarkably sober, very undramatic. It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge… — Arthur Ashe
- The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing. — Isaac Asimov
- Before the Civil War, Canada was at the top of the underground railroad. If you made it into Canada, you were safe… — Margaret Atwood