--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: On the one side was bigotry, ignorance…" description: "\"On the one side was bigotry, ignorance, hatred, superstition, every sort of blackness that the human mind is capable of. On the other side was sense.\" ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea8/h-l-mencken-245_bigotry_on-the-one-side-was-bigotry-ignorance-ha_1633229.png" --- # On the one side was bigotry, ignorance, hatred… ![“On the one side was bigotry, ignorance, hatred, superstition, every sort of blackness that the human mind is capable of. On the other side was sense.” quote by H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea8/h-l-mencken-245_bigotry_on-the-one-side-was-bigotry-ignorance-ha_1633229.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea8/h-l-mencken-245_bigotry_on-the-one-side-was-bigotry-ignorance-ha_1633229.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ea8/h-l-mencken-245_bigotry_on-the-one-side-was-bigotry-ignorance-ha_1633229.png) > “On the one side was bigotry, ignorance, hatred, superstition, every sort of blackness that the human mind is capable of. On the other side was sense.” [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Society pits irrational hatred and superstition against rational sense, highlighting a conflict within humanity. **In simple terms:** Ignorance battles reason. Key Takeaway Promote reason over prejudice. Themes prejudice reason ignorance superstition human nature Mood critical analytical Type sociopolitical philosophical When to use this quote - education reform - public discourse - policy making - community dialogue - media analysis Key Concepts sociology ethics critical thinking Questions to Reflect On - How can societies foster critical thinking? - What role does empathy play in reducing bigotry? A Different Perspective Reason alone may not overcome deep‑seated biases. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bigotry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bigotry/) [Blackness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/blackness/) [Christian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/christian/) [Hatred](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/hatred/) [Human mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/human-mind/) [Humans](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humans/) [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Racism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/racism/) [Religious](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/religious/) [Superstitions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/superstitions/) ## Related quotes > [When I remember thee in days to come, O Jerusalem, it will not be with pleasure. The musty deposits of 2,000 years of inhumanity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodor-herzl/when-i-remember-thee-in-days-to-come-o-jerusalem-it-will-not-be-with/) [Theodor Herzl](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodor-herzl/) > [“Religion isn't the problem; ignorance and hatred are.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-weinstein/religion-isn-t-the-problem-ignorance-and-hatred-are/) Bruce Weinstein > [All the evils that men cause to each other because of certain desires, or opinions or religious principles, are rooted in ignorance. \[All hatred…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/all-the-evils-that-men-cause-to-each-other-because-of-certain-desires/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [I don't see myself as being injured by a landmine or the Taliban; I was injured by ignorance and hatred. When people do these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giles-duley/i-don-t-see-myself-as-being-injured-by-a-landmine-or-the-taliban-i/) [Giles Duley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giles-duley/) > [Ignorance, hatred and greed are killing nature.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/masanobu-fukuoka/ignorance-hatred-and-greed-are-killing-nature/) [Masanobu Fukuoka](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/masanobu-fukuoka/) > [In America we now live more in fear than in hope, and eventually that will lead to ignorance and hatred. We need to have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/greg-mortenson/in-america-we-now-live-more-in-fear-than-in-hope-and-eventually-that/) [Greg Mortenson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/greg-mortenson/) > [The rising sun can dispel the darkness of night, but it cannot banish the blackness of malice, hatred, bigotry, and selfishness from the hearts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-o-mckay/the-rising-sun-can-dispel-the-darkness-of-night-but-it-cannot-banish/) [David O. McKay](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-o-mckay/) > [I leave pansies, the symbolic flower of freethought, in memory of the Great Agnostic, Robert Ingersoll, who stood for equality, education, progress, free ideas…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bruce-springsteen/i-leave-pansies-the-symbolic-flower-of-freethought-in-memory-of-the/) [Bruce Springsteen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bruce-springsteen/) > [Nothing is so convenient as a decisive argument ... which must at least silence the most arrogant bigotry and superstition, and free us from…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-hume/nothing-is-so-convenient-as-a-decisive-argument-which-must-at-least/) [David Hume](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-hume/) > [We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-washington/we-have-abundant-reason-to-rejoice-that-in-this-land-the-light-of/) [George Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-washington/) > [The internet was supposed to liberate knowledge, but in fact it buried it, first under a vast sewer of ignorance, laziness, bigotry, superstition and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-elton/the-internet-was-supposed-to-liberate-knowledge-but-in-fact-it-buried/) [Ben Elton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-elton/) > [Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise… During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-madison/religious-bondage-shackles-and-debilitates-the-mind-and-unfits-it-for-3/) [James Madison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-madison/) > [The so-called Christian nations are the most enlightened and progressive ... but in spite of their religion, not because of it. The Church has…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/the-so-called-christian-nations-are-the-most-enlightened-and/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Freemasonry teaches not merely temperance, fortitude, prudence, justice, brotherly love, relief, and truth, but liberty, equality, and fraternity, and it denounces ignorance, superstition, bigotry,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/theodore-roosevelt/freemasonry-teaches-not-merely-temperance-fortitude-prudence-justice/) [Theodore Roosevelt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/theodore-roosevelt/) > [The superstition in which we were brought up never loses its power over us, even after we understand it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gotthold-ephraim-lessing/the-superstition-in-which-we-were-brought-up-never-loses-its-power/) [Gotthold Ephraim Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gotthold-ephraim-lessing/) ## More by H. L. Mencken > [Alimony - the ransom that the happy pay to the devil.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/alimony-the-ransom-that-the-happy-pay-to-the-devil/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [A bad artist almost always tries to conceal his incompetence by whooping up a new formula.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/a-bad-artist-almost-always-tries-to-conceal-his-incompetence-by/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [ By profession a biologist, \[Thomas Henry Huxley\] covered in fact the whole field of the exact sciences, and then bulged through its four fences.… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/by-profession-a-biologist-thomas-henry-huxley-covered-in-fact-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [So few men are really worth knowing, that it seems a shameful waste to let an anthropoid prejudice stand in the way of free…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/so-few-men-are-really-worth-knowing-that-it-seems-a-shameful-waste-to/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Man's objection to love is that it dies hard; woman's, that when it is dead, it stays dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/man-s-objection-to-love-is-that-it-dies-hard-woman-s-that-when-it-is/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [The lunatic fringe wags the underdog.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-lunatic-fringe-wags-the-underdog/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [For it is an absurdity to call a country civilized in which a decent and industrious man, laboriously mastering a trade which is valuble…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-an-absurdity-to-call-a-country-civilized-in-which-a-decent/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Women have simple tastes. They get pleasure out of the conversation of children in arms and men in love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/women-have-simple-tastes-they-get-pleasure-out-of-the-conversation-of/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [The critic, to interpret his artist, even to understand his artist, must be able to get into the mind of his artist; he must…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/the-critic-to-interpret-his-artist-even-to-understand-his-artist-must/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [There is, in fact, nothing about religious opinions that entitles them to any more respect than other opinions get. On the contrary, they tend…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/there-is-in-fact-nothing-about-religious-opinions-that-entitles-them/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Don't overestimate the decency of the human race.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/don-t-overestimate-the-decency-of-the-human-race/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Liberty ... was a two-headed boon. There was first, the liberty of the people as a whole to determine the forms of their own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/liberty-was-a-two-headed-boon-there-was-first-the-liberty-of-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [To the extent that I am genuinely educated, I am suspicious of all the things that the average citizen believes and the average pedagogue…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/to-the-extent-that-i-am-genuinely-educated-i-am-suspicious-of-all-the/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [Philosophy first constructs a scheme of happiness and then tries to fit the world to it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/philosophy-first-constructs-a-scheme-of-happiness-and-then-tries-to/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) > [For it is the natural tendency of the ignorant to believe what is not true. In order to overcome that tendency it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/h-l-mencken/for-it-is-the-natural-tendency-of-the-ignorant-to-believe-what-is-not/) [H. L. Mencken](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) [Explore all 827 H. L. Mencken quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-l-mencken/) ## More Bigotry quotes > [“The mission is, not to replace old world mindlessness with new world mindlessness, but to put an end to all forms of brainless authoritarianism.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abhijit-naskar/the-mission-is-not-to-replace-old-world-mindlessness-with-new-world/) [Abhijit Naskar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abhijit-naskar/) > [To take up half on trust, and half to try, Name it not faith but bungling bigotry.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-dryden/to-take-up-half-on-trust-and-half-to-try-name-it-not-faith-but/) [John Dryden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-dryden/) > [ What are you for? It may be, to a degree, consoling that white brothers and sisters did not vote for \[Donald\] Trump, and do… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-eric-dyson/what-are-you-for-it-may-be-to-a-degree-consoling-that-white-brothers/) [Michael Eric Dyson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-eric-dyson/) > [Bigoted people are just scholars who lack any sort of legitimate credentials to answer why they're bigoted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doctavius/bigoted-people-are-just-scholars-who-lack-any-sort-of-legitimate/) Doctavius > [Sadly, we can't eliminate bigotry. But that doesn't mean we have to tolerate it, much less give it a platform on which to thrive.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katharine-viner/sadly-we-can-t-eliminate-bigotry-but-that-doesn-t-mean-we-have-to/) [Katharine Viner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katharine-viner/) > [Ideological bigotry has become the norm on even our most prestigious campuses, where students can go for years without reading or hearing anything that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-sowell/ideological-bigotry-has-become-the-norm-on-even-our-most-prestigious/) [Thomas Sowell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-sowell/) > [“People talk about history and things like slavery, genocide, and religious persecution as horrors that happened in the past because we were ignorant. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-matthew-nespoli/people-talk-about-history-and-things-like-slavery-genocide-and/) [J. Matthew Nespoli](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-matthew-nespoli/) > [“Remember who you are. This creature wants to take it from you. Do not let him.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jim-butcher/remember-who-you-are-this-creature-wants-to-take-it-from-you-do-not/) [Jim Butcher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jim-butcher/) > [“Oh Beautiful For A Land That's Free Where All Can Congregate Together Live With No Degree Of Bigotry And Hate”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathy-bee/oh-beautiful-for-a-land-that-s-free-where-all-can-congregate-together/) Kathy Bee > [“That’s the problem with indoctrination—the whole point of the First Order’s kind of education is to stop someone from thinking and instead kick their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/delilah-s-dawson/that-s-the-problem-with-indoctrination-the-whole-point-of-the-first/) [Delilah S. 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The real message…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-nugent/pat-buchanan-was-fired-by-msnbc-for-doing-nothing-more-than-voicing/) [Ted Nugent](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-nugent/) > [Fear and Bigotry are bred fom isolation and ignorance. -Shekinah](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/fear-and-bigotry-are-bred-fom-isolation-and-ignorance-shekinah/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) [Browse all 661 Bigotry quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bigotry/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "On the one side was bigotry, ignorance, hatred, superstition, every sort of blackness that the human mind is capable of. On the other side was sense.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "H. L. 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