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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 pleasure out of it.


H. L. Mencken

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Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Many a man thinks he is buying pleasure, when he is really selling himself to it.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN Man does not speak because he thinks; he thinks because he speaks. Or rather, speaking is no differe...
OCTAVIO PAZ If anyone thinks he has no responsibilities, it is because he has not sought them out.
MARY LYON It is clear that men accept an immediate pain rather than an immediate pleasure, but only because th...
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM Three-fourths of the mistakes a man makes are made because he does not really know what he thinks he...
JAMES BRYCE It is in his pleasure that a man really lives; it is from his leisure that he constructs the true fa...
AGNES REPPLIER In short, whoever does violence to truth or its expression eventually mutilates justice, even though...
ALBERT CAMUS The best player always gets followed, but especially Tiger because you know he thinks everything out...
GEOFF OGILVY The true portrait of a man is a fusion of what he thinks he is, what others think he is, what he rea...
DORE SCHARY Pride slays thanksgiving, but an humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud...
HENRY WARD BEECHER Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. -H. L. Mencken.
H. L. MENCKEN More important, it's because God is our only true source of life.
CRAIG GROESCHEL The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thin...
MORTIMER J. ADLER God will save whomever He chooses to save. The Christian should proselytize not because he thinks he...
CRISS JAMI It is what it is, it is what you make it.
JAMES DURBIN I never like it when a celebrity goes on Twitter and says, 'This isn't true!' It is what...
HARRY STYLES Pride slays thanksgiving, but a humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud ...
HENRY WARD BEECHER Pride slays thanksgiving, but a humble mind is the soil out of which thanks naturally grow. A proud...
HENRY WARD BEECHER Which the Chicken and Which the Egg?

He drinks because she scolds, he thinks;
She th...
OGDEN NASH When everyone thinks something is true, it does not make it anything more than effective marketing.
CLIFTON HILL There was no Jace Wayland more real than the one he saw in her eyes when she looked at him.
CASSANDRA CLARE Taffy. He thinks about taffy. He thinks it would take his teeth out now, but he would eat it anyhow,...
MITCH ALBOM A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.
HENRY WARD BEECHER In his usual perverse way, because he is so good at it, he thinks little of acting. Because he has a...
BOB ELLIS It's the misfortune of German authors that not a single one of them dares to expose his true cha...
FRANZ GRILLPARZER Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.
ANDRé MALRAUX Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides.
ANDRE MALRAUX Modern man thinks he loses something - time - when he does not do things quickly. Yet he does not kn...
ERICH FROMM Modern man thinks he loses something - time - when he does not do things quickly. Yet he does not kn...
ERICH FROMM Behavior is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes
SOURCE UNKNOWN Behavior is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes.
ANONYMOUS Behavior is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes.
EMILY DICKINSON Behavior is what a man does, not what he thinks, feels, or believes
The true minister is in his pulpit not because he has chosen that profession as an easy means of liv...
PETER MARSHALL Religion consists of a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was cert...
MARK TWAIN If man asks for many laws it is only because he is sure that his neighbor needs them; privately he i...
WILL DURANT People like Eliot because he's a fighter, not a quitter. If Mr. Weld thinks Eliot was too tough on c...
DARREN DOPP I am Happy and satisfied with what I am. 10000 will take me wrong, 1000 will go against me, 100 will...
NEHA KOTHARI If our mind was an ocean then every now and then we would have the perfect storm happening in it.Gar...
GARY F EVANS... 35. God is entitled to a portion of our income—not because He needs it but because we need to give...
JAMES C. DOBSON because it is true; had he not said it, it would have been misleading.
YASSER ARAFAT Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was cert...
MARK TWAIN An autobiography is the story of how a man thinks he lived.
HERBERT SAMUEL Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man.
C. S. LEWIS Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man.
C.S. LEWIS When one thinks he has it all figured out, he will realize he truly doesn't .
JOHN R LUIS As a director, you can't stop a guy if he thinks something's hysterical, because if you do, ...
EVAN GOLDBERG A man is at his youngest when he thinks he is a man, not yet realizing that his actions must show it...
MARY RENAULT They say that our sovereign is above his laws to his pleasure, and he may make it and break it as he...
JACK CADE I regret that I wasn't more successful with my marriages, but it is what it is.
TED TURNER He that thinks he is the happiest man, really is so. But he that thinks he is the wisest, is general...
CHARLES CALEB COLTON The true barbarian is he who thinks everything barbarous but his own tastes and prejudices.
WILLIAM HAZLITT Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man... I...
C.S. LEWIS The average person thinks he isn't.
FATHER LARRY LORENZONI The average person thinks he isn't.
LARRY LORENZONI Man finds it hard to get what he wants, because he does not want the best; God finds it hard to give...
GEORGE MACDONALD Man finds it hard to get what he wants, because he does not want the best. God finds it hard to give...
UNKNOWN It is pleasure that lurks in the practice of every one of your virtues. Man performs actions because...
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM A man is literally what he thinks.
JAMES ALLEN Don't let the opinions of the average man sway you. Dream, and he thinks you're crazy. Succe...
ROBERT G. ALLEN If a man thinks he is not conceited, he is very conceited indeed.
C.S. LEWIS To stand on the
brink of what is coming, feeling eager, optimistic anticipation—with no feeli...
ASK AND IT IS GIVEN His body is second to winning, no questions asked, because he does whatever it takes. He's one of th...
STEVE SULLIVAN A Conformist is a man who declares, "It's true because others believe it" - but an Individualist is ...
AYN RAND A fanatic is a man that does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts of the case.
FINLEY PETER DUNNE A fanatic is a man that does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts of the case.
FINLEY PETER DUNNE A fanatic is a man that does what he thinks the Lord would do if He knew the facts of the case.
FINLEY PETER DUNNE He was mixing well tonight. He has an idea of what he wants to do out there and he does it.
JEFF CARTER As soon as he thinks about the record, he's finished. The secret is to put it out of your mind.
JUST FONTAINE The scientist does not study nature because it is useful to do so. He studies it because he takes...
HENRI POINCARé The Christian conceives of his abode on Earth in no more delightful colors than the Jainist sectaria...
EMILE DURKHEIM A man can feel pain in an amputated arm (an arm that is not there). A man can also feel anxious when...
BANGAMBIKI HABYARIMANA I believe he wanted them to kill him. Everybody thinks he went out there to kill the police. He's no...
SANDRA ANGLE A tremendous number of people in America work very hard at something that bores them. Even a rich ma...
W. H. AUDEN Just because an idea is true doesn't mean it can be proved. And just because an idea can be proved d...
JONAH LEHRER Your true traveller finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty - h...
ALDOUS HUXLEY Your true traveler finds boredom rather agreeable than painful. It is the symbol of his liberty -- h...
ALDOUS HUXLEY The fool thinks he is wise and the wise thinks he is not a fool.
VIKRANT PARSAI As the arteries grow hard, the heart grows soft. -H. L. Mencken.
H. L. MENCKEN A man's true character comes out when he's drunk.
CHARLIE CHAPLIN Saxton figures he finished third in the 2002 race because he wasn't conservative enough. He's bringi...
JACK KANE A man is but the product of his thoughts what he thinks, he becomes.
MAHATMA GANDHI A man is but the product of his thoughts. What he thinks, he becomes.
MAHATMA GANDHI I learn from Larry Ellison every day. I've said this before: how is it to work with someone who ...
SAFRA A. CATZ If Innocent is happy, it is because he is innocent. If he can defy the conventions, it is just becau...
G.K. CHESTERTON He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.
CONFUCIUS He who learns but does not think, is lost! He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.
CONFUCIUS He who learns but does not think is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, a...
HENRI POINCARE He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.
HENRY FORD He can who thinks he can, and he can't who thinks he can't. This is an inexorable, indisputable law.
PABLO PICASSO One that does not think to highly of himself is more than he thinks.
JOHANN VON GOETHE One that does not think to highly of himself is more than he thinks.
JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another,...
ARISTOTLE The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another,...
ARISTOTLE He who does not reach the Great Wall is not a true man!
MAO ZEDONG He doesn't believe it is a real trial, he thinks he still has the support of the vast majority of Ir...
HASSAN BAZZAZ She is very plain. What does Henry see in her?'"
"He thinks she's stupid. He finds it restful.
HILARY MANTEL

More H. L. Mencken

Honor is simply the morality of superior men.
H. L. MENCKEN A man may be a fool and not know it, but not if he is married.
H. L. MENCKEN There is always an easy solution to every problem - neat, plausible, and wrong.
H. L. MENCKEN Temptation is a woman's weapon and man's excuse.
H. L. MENCKEN For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.
H. L. MENCKEN The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.
H. L. MENCKEN A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier.
H. L. MENCKEN A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.
H. L. MENCKEN Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin sl...
H. L. MENCKEN Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.
H. L. MENCKEN On one issue, at least, men and women agree; they both distrust women.
H. L. MENCKEN The most valuable of all human possessions, next to a superior and disdainful air, is the reputation...
H. L. MENCKEN Nothing is so abject and pathetic as a politician who has lost his job, save only a retired stud-hor...
H. L. MENCKEN A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.
H. L. MENCKEN One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. It is not only more effective; it is also vastly ...
H. L. MENCKEN I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to ...
H. L. MENCKEN Time stays, we go.
H. L. MENCKEN A nun, at best, is only half a woman, just as a priest is only half a man.
H. L. MENCKEN The truth is, as every one knows, that the great artists of the world are never Puritans, and seldom...
H. L. MENCKEN Archbishop -- A Christian ecclesiastic of a rank superior to that attained by Christ.
H. L. MENCKEN A church is a place in which gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who wi...
H. L. MENCKEN All the political seers and sorcerers seem to be agreed that the coming Presidential campaign will b...
H. L. MENCKEN The time must come inevitably when mankind shall surmount the imbecility of religion, as it has surm...
H. L. MENCKEN The chief knowledge that a man gets from reading books is the knowledge that very few of them are wo...
H. L. MENCKEN There are two kinds of books. Those that no one reads and those that no one ought to read.
H. L. MENCKEN There are people who read too much: bibliobibuli. I know some who are constantly drunk on books, as ...
H. L. MENCKEN War will never cease until babies begin to come into the world with larger cerebrums and smaller adr...
H. L. MENCKEN Love is an emotion that is based on an opinion of women that is impossible for those who have had an...
H. L. MENCKEN Love is the delusion that one man or woman differs from another.
H. L. MENCKEN To be in love is merely to be in a perpetual state of anesthesia.
H. L. MENCKEN I write in order to attain that feeling of tension relieved and function achieved which a cow enjoys...
H. L. MENCKEN I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs.
H. L. MENCKEN If I ever marry it will be on a sudden impulse, as a man shoots himself.
H. L. MENCKEN Whenever a husband and wife begin to discuss their marriage they are giving evidence at a coroner's ...
H. L. MENCKEN The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed [and hence clamorous to be led t...
H. L. MENCKEN We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense that we respect his theory that ...
H. L. MENCKEN It is a sin to believe in the evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.
H. L. MENCKEN Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party...
H. L. MENCKEN We must be willing to pay a price for freedom.
H. L. MENCKEN No man could bring himself to reveal his true character, and, above all, his true limitations as a c...
H. L. MENCKEN School-days, I believe, are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of du...
H. L. MENCKEN Let's not burn the universities yet. After all, the damage they do might be worse.
H. L. MENCKEN The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all: it is simply to reduce as many in...
H. L. MENCKEN The curse of man, and the cause of nearly all his woe, is his stupendous capacity for believing the ...
H. L. MENCKEN It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.
H. L. MENCKEN Fame: an embalmer trembling with stage fright.
H. L. MENCKEN So few men are really worth knowing, that it seems a shameful waste to let an anthropoid prejudice s...
H. L. MENCKEN One may no more live in the world without picking up the moral prejudices of the world than one will...
H. L. MENCKEN The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false face for the urge to rule it.
H. L. MENCKEN Man is always looking for someone to boast to; woman is always looking for a shoulder to put her hea...
H. L. MENCKEN A man's women folk, whatever their outward show of respect for his merit and authority, always regar...
H. L. MENCKEN Men have a much better time of it than women. For one thing, they marry later, for another thing, th...
H. L. MENCKEN Man weeps to think that he will die so soon; woman, that she was born so long ago.
H. L. MENCKEN Bachelors have consciences, married men have wives.
H. L. MENCKEN Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didn't, they'd be married too.
H. L. MENCKEN It is impossible to believe that the same God who permitted His own son to die a bachelor regards ce...
H. L. MENCKEN To the best of my knowledge and belief, the average American newspaper, even of the so-called better...
H. L. MENCKEN The opera is to music what a bawdy house is to a cathedral.
H. L. MENCKEN Time is the great equalizer in the field of morals.
H. L. MENCKEN The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act...
H. L. MENCKEN Morality is the theory that every human act must be either right or wrong, and that 99% of them are ...
H. L. MENCKEN Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he...
H. L. MENCKEN Women have simple tastes. They get pleasure out of the conversation of children in arms and men in l...
H. L. MENCKEN A metaphysician is one who, when you remark that twice two makes four, demands to know what you mean...
H. L. MENCKEN Philosophy consists very largely of one philosopher arguing that all others are jackasses. He usuall...
H. L. MENCKEN There is no record in history of a happy philosopher.
H. L. MENCKEN An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it is a...
H. L. MENCKEN Whenever you hear a man speak of his love for his country, it is a sign that he expects to be paid f...
H. L. MENCKEN A society made up of individuals who were all capable of original thought would probably be unendura...
H. L. MENCKEN Don't overestimate the decency of the human race.
H. L. MENCKEN Man is never honestly the fatalist, nor even the stoic. He fights his fate, often desperately. He is...
H. L. MENCKEN I believe in only one thing: liberty; but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it upo...
H. L. MENCKEN There is nothing worse than an idle hour, with no occupation offering. People who have many such hou...
H. L. MENCKEN Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that th...
H. L. MENCKEN One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. It is not only more effective; it is also vastly m...
H. L. MENCKEN A prohibitionist is the sort of man one couldn't care to drink with, even if he drank.
H. L. MENCKEN On one issue at least, men and women agree; they both distrust women.
H. L. MENCKEN The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery ...
H. L. MENCKEN Communism, like any other revealed religion, is largely made up of prophecies.
H. L. MENCKEN What men value in this world is not rights but privileges.
H. L. MENCKEN The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on the poor.
H. L. MENCKEN Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends.
H. L. MENCKEN Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
H. L. MENCKEN Life is a constant oscillation between the sharp horns of dilemmas.
H. L. MENCKEN If I had my way, no man guilty of golf would be eligible to any office of trust under the United Sta...
H. L. MENCKEN It is impossible to imagine the universe run by a wise, just and omnipotent God, but it is quite eas...
H. L. MENCKEN Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their ...
H. L. MENCKEN The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
H. L. MENCKEN Democracy is the theory that the common people know what They want, and deserve to get it good and h...
H. L. MENCKEN Democracy is also a form of religion. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses.
H. L. MENCKEN The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the most daring liars; the men they detest...
H. L. MENCKEN The truth that survives is simply the lie that is pleasantest to believe.
H. L. MENCKEN Lying is not only excusable; it is not only innocent; it is, above all, necessary and unavoidable. W...
H. L. MENCKEN It is impossible to think of a man of any actual force and originality, universally recognized as ha...
H. L. MENCKEN Criticism is prejudice made plausible.
H. L. MENCKEN A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn't know.
H. L. MENCKEN Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.
H. L. MENCKEN As the arteries grow hard, the heart grows soft.
H. L. MENCKEN Have you ever watched a crab on the shore crawling backward in search of the Atlantic Ocean, and mis...
H. L. MENCKEN Man is a beautiful machine that works very badly.
H. L. MENCKEN The basic fact about human existence is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore. It is not s...
H. L. MENCKEN Historian -- an unsuccessful novelist.
H. L. MENCKEN Jealousy is the theory that some other fellow has just as little taste.
H. L. MENCKEN The evidence of the emotions, save in cases where it has strong objective support, is really no evid...
H. L. MENCKEN Government is actually the worst failure of civilized man. There has never been a really good one, a...
H. L. MENCKEN The legislature, like the executive, has ceased to be even the creature of the people: it is the cre...
H. L. MENCKEN The objection of the scandalmonger is not that she tells of racy doings, but that she pretends to be...
H. L. MENCKEN God is the immemorial refuge of the incompetent, the helpless, the miserable. They find not only san...
H. L. MENCKEN The movies today are too rich to have any room for genuine artists. They produce a few passable craf...
H. L. MENCKEN Injustice is relatively easy to bear what stings is justice.
H. L. MENCKEN The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the ...
H. L. MENCKEN JUDGE, n: A law student who marks his own papers.
H. L. MENCKEN Most people want security in this world, not liberty.
H. L. MENCKEN The fact that I have no remedy for all the sorrows of the world is no reason for my accepting yours....
H. L. MENCKEN Thanksgiving Day is a day devoted by persons with inflammatory rheumatism to thanking a loving Fathe...
H. L. MENCKEN Temptation is a woman's weapon and man's excuse.
H. L. MENCKEN The lunatic fringe wags the underdog.
H. L. MENCKEN Hygiene is the corruption of medicine by morality. It is impossible to find a hygienist who does not...
H. L. MENCKEN Opera in English, is about as sensible as baseball in Italian.
H. L. MENCKEN The Belief that man is outfitted with an immortal soul, differing altogether from the engines which ...
H. L. MENCKEN Alimony -- the ransom that the happy pay to the devil.
H. L. MENCKEN A gentlemen is one who never strikes a woman without provocation.
H. L. MENCKEN No one hates his job so heartily as a farmer.
H. L. MENCKEN The public, with its mob yearning to be instructed, edified and pulled by the nose, demands certaint...
H. L. MENCKEN It is the dull man who is always sure, and the sure man who is always dull.
H. L. MENCKEN When women kiss it always reminds one of prize-fighters shaking hands.
H. L. MENCKEN A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
H. L. MENCKEN The cynics are right nine times out of ten.
H. L. MENCKEN The only cure for contempt is counter-contempt.
H. L. MENCKEN Imagine the Creator as a stand up comedian - and at once the world becomes explicable.
H. L. MENCKEN It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though sh...
H. L. MENCKEN After all, all he did was string together a lot of old, well-known quotations.
H. L. MENCKEN Unionism, seldom if ever, uses such powers as it has to ensure better work; almost always it devotes...
H. L. MENCKEN I never agree with Communists or any other kind of kept men.
H. L. MENCKEN The idea that leisure is of value in itself is only conditionally true. The average man simply spend...
H. L. MENCKEN Remorse is regret that one waited so long to do it.
H. L. MENCKEN Self-respect: the secure feeling that no one, as yet, is suspicious.
H. L. MENCKEN Life is a dead-end street.
H. L. MENCKEN It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though sh...
H. L. MENCKEN It doesn't take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound c...
H. L. MENCKEN The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act...
H. L. MENCKEN No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
H. L. MENCKEN The truth is that the average schoolmaster, on all the lower levels, is and always must be essential...
H. L. MENCKEN The more a man dreams, the less he believes.
H. L. MENCKEN On one issue at least, men and women agree: they both distrust women.
H. L. MENCKEN Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays twice as much in taxes as he former...
H. L. MENCKEN The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the...
H. L. MENCKEN Before a man speaks, it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks it is seldom nec...
H. L. MENCKEN How little it takes to make life unbearable: a pebble in the shoe, a cockroach in the spaghetti, a w...
H. L. MENCKEN The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world in which it is overestimated.
H. L. MENCKEN Misogynist: A man who hates women as much as women hate one another.
H. L. MENCKEN The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundre...
H. L. MENCKEN Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.
H. L. MENCKEN The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other a...
H. L. MENCKEN Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
H. L. MENCKEN To die for an idea; it is unquestionably noble. But how much nobler it would be if men died for idea...
H. L. MENCKEN The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another...
H. L. MENCKEN I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.
H. L. MENCKEN It is impossible to imagine Goethe or Beethoven being good at billiards or golf.
H. L. MENCKEN Alimony - the ransom that the happy pay to the devil.
H. L. MENCKEN On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at la...
H. L. MENCKEN Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
H. L. MENCKEN In war the heroes always outnumber the soldiers ten to one.
H. L. MENCKEN The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief ...
H. L. MENCKEN It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common hones...
H. L. MENCKEN Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution?
H. L. MENCKEN In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice t...
H. L. MENCKEN The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led t...
H. L. MENCKEN It doesn't take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sou...
H. L. MENCKEN Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.
H. L. MENCKEN An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will a...
H. L. MENCKEN Every man sees in his relatives, and especially in his cousins, a series of grotesque caricatures of...
H. L. MENCKEN Strike an average between what a woman thinks of her husband a month before she marries him and what...
H. L. MENCKEN Democracy is only a dream: it should be put in the same category as Arcadia, Santa Claus, and Heaven...
H. L. MENCKEN Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another.
H. L. MENCKEN No one in this world, so far as I know - and I have searched the records for years, and employed age...
H. L. MENCKEN The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear - fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexpl...
H. L. MENCKEN No matter how happily a woman may be married, it always pleases her to discover that there is a nice...
H. L. MENCKEN I never lecture, not because I am shy or a bad speaker, but simply because I detest the sort of peop...
H. L. MENCKEN The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regar...
H. L. MENCKEN Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
H. L. MENCKEN I never smoked a cigarette until I was nine.
H. L. MENCKEN If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries fo...
H. L. MENCKEN It is not materialism that is the chief curse of the world, as pastors teach, but idealism. Men get ...
H. L. MENCKEN Poetry has done enough when it charms, but prose must also convince.
H. L. MENCKEN Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, it is seldom nec...
H. L. MENCKEN For it is mutual trust, even more than mutual interest that holds human associations together. Our f...
H. L. MENCKEN Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didn't they'd be married too.
H. L. MENCKEN Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.
H. L. MENCKEN Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he fo...
H. L. MENCKEN Legend: A lie that has attained the dignity of age.
H. L. MENCKEN Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.
H. L. MENCKEN It is hard for the ape to believe he descended from man.
H. L. MENCKEN Archbishop - A Christian ecclesiastic of a rank superior to that attained by Christ.
H. L. MENCKEN Adultery is the application of democracy to love.
H. L. MENCKEN Each party steals so many articles of faith from the other, and the candidates spend so much time ma...
H. L. MENCKEN Have you ever watched a crab on the shore crawling backward in search of the Atlantic Ocean, and mis...
H. L. MENCKEN A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and ...
H. L. MENCKEN There is a saying in Baltimore that crabs may be prepared in fifty ways and that all of them are goo...
H. L. MENCKEN A bad man is the sort who weeps every time he speaks of a good woman.
H. L. MENCKEN