Art Quote by H. L. Mencken
“When I hear artists or authors making fun of businessmen, I think of a regiment in which the band makes fun of the cooks.”
About This Quote
Source Essay: "The American Language" by H. L. Mencken, 1919
The quote highlights the absurdity of one creative group mocking another, suggesting that such jokes are as misplaced as a band ridiculing cooks.
In simple terms: Mocking others in unrelated fields is pointless.
Key Takeaway
Avoid unnecessary criticism.
Themes
humor
class
Mood
wry
skeptical
Type
observational
satirical
When to use this quote
- creative industries
- business meetings
- team building
- public speaking
Key Concepts
iricism
social commentary
Questions to Reflect On
- Why target a group you don’t understand?
- What’s the value of cross‑field humor?
A Different Perspective
Criticism can alienate allies and miss the point.
![“By profession a biologist, [Thomas Henry Huxley] covered in fact the whole field of the exact sciences, and then bulged through its four fences. Absolutely nothing was uninteresting to him. His curiosity ranged from music to theology and from philosophy to history. He didn't simply know something…” quote by H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/f46/h-l-mencken-245_absolutely-nothing_by-profession-a-biologist-thomas-henry-h_5368.jpg)
