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Upon Quotes by H. L. Mencken
- Whenever "A" attempts by law to impose his moral standards upon "B," "A" is most likely a scoundrel.
- One of the main purposes of laws in a democratic society is to put burdens upon intelligence and reduce it to impotence. Ostensibly, their aim…
- There is, it appears, a conspiracy of scientists afoot. Their purpose is to break down religion, propagate immorality, and so reduce mankind to the level…
- All [zoos] actually offer to the public in return for the taxes spent upon them is a form of idle and witless amusement, compared to…
- The Jews could be put down very plausibly as the most unpleasant race ever heard of. As commonly encountered they lack any of the qualities…
- The State is not force alone. It depends upon the credulity of man quite as much as upon his docility. Its aim is not merely…
- They have taken the care and upbringing of children out of the hands of parents, where it belongs, and thrown it upon a gang of…
- 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 government, in its essence, is a conspiracy against the superior man: it's one permanent object is to oppress him and cripple him.... One of…
- It was morality that burned the books of the ancient sages, and morality that halted the free inquiry of the Golden Age and substituted for…
- The idea that the sole aim of punishment is to prevent crime is obviously grounded upon the theory that crime can be prevented, which is…
- A large part of altruism, even when it is perfectly honest, is grounded upon the fact that it is uncomfortable to have unhappy people about…
- All the political seers and sorcerers seem to be agreed that the coming Presidential campaign will be full of bitterness, and that most of it…
- The notion that artists flourish upon adversity and misunderstanding, that they are able to function to the utmost in an atmosphere of indifference or hostility…
- During many a single week, I daresay, more money is spent in New York upon useless and evil things than would suffice to run the…
- All successful newpapers are ceaselessly querulous and bellicose. They never defend anyone or anything if they can help it; if the job is forced upon…
- Poverty is a soft pedal upon the branches of human activity, not excepting the spiritual.
- I believe in only one thing: liberty; but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it upon anyone.
- 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…
- Evangelical Christianity, as everyone knows, is founded upon hate, as the Christianity of Christ was founded upon love.
- The man who boasts that he habitually tells the truth is simply a man with no respect for it. It is not a thing to…
- The smallest atom of truth represents some man's bitter toil and agony; for every ponderable chunk of it there is a brave truth-seeker's grave upon…
- Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throat.
More Upon Quotes
- The trouble with lying and deceiving is that their efficiency depends entirely upon a clear notion of the truth that the liar… — Hannah Arendt
- Your lost friends are not dead, but gone before, advanced a stage or two upon that road which you must travel in… — Aristophanes
- Happiness depends upon ourselves. — Aristotle
- The ultimate value of life depends upon awareness and the power of contemplation rather than upon mere survival. — Aristotle
- We are addicted to our egotism, our likes and dislikes and prejudices, and depend upon them for our own sense of identity. — Karen Armstrong
- Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon. July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind. — Neil Armstrong
- Truth sits upon the lips of dying men. — Matthew Arnold
- Once upon a time, novelists of the 19th century, such as Charles Dickens, published in serial form. — Margaret Atwood
- Every American poet feels that the whole responsibility for contemporary poetry has fallen upon his shoulders, that he is a literary aristocracy… — Wystan Hugh Auden
- The weaker the data available upon which to base one's conclusion, the greater the precision which should be quoted in order to… — Norman Ralph Augustine
- The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no… — Marcus Aurelius
- Let it be your constant method to look into the design of people's actions, and see what they would be at, as… — Marcus Aurelius