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The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animals.


H. L. Mencken

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The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other a...
H. L. MENCKEN The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other a...
HENRY LOUIS MENCKEN Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. -H. L. Mencken.
H. L. MENCKEN As the arteries grow hard, the heart grows soft. -H. L. Mencken.
H. L. MENCKEN As the arteries grow hard, the heart grows soft. thanks to Alan Bennett -H. L. Mencken.
H. L. MENCKEN And what greater might do we possess as human beings than our capacity to question and to learn?
ANN DRUYAN The fact that we are human beings is infinitely more important than all the peculiarities that disti...
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR Be kind. We never know what people are going through. Give grace and mercy because one day your circ...
GERMANY KENT Human beings can be awful cruel to one another.
MARK TWAIN Only that 'holy' book which teaches you to love all beings - animals or human things - read. Another...
FAKEER ISHAVARDAS Death seems to provide the minds of the Anglo-Saxon race with a greater fund of amusement than any o...
DOROTHY L. SAYERS Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by...
ELIE WIESEL Angels possess greater powers than do human beings.
WALTER LANG We are simply human beings. So it is important for us to treat each other in that capacity.
JUSTIN SANE Both [P. T.] Barnum and H. L. Mencken are said to have made the depressing observation that no one e...
CARL SAGAN Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by...
ELIE WEISEL My message is to get human beings to love God, love their neighbor and for the life of me I just don...
PHIL ROBERTSON We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's hap...
CHARLIE CHAPLIN Human cloning is the deliberate creation of a human life for utilitarian purposes. That life is crea...
SAM BROWNBACK We carry with us, as human beings, not just the capacity to be kind, but the very choice of kindness...
R.J. PALACIO Sovereignty...as understood in the Declaration of Independence was originally, and by nature, the eq...
HARRY V. JAFFA The truth, of course, is that the only necessary and sufficient condition for human beings to murder...
JEFFREY KLUGER Though there are some notable exceptions, by and large the persistent ranting of the Warren Commissi...
VINCENT BUGLIOSI Thinking clearly and effectively is the greatest asset of any human being. We are constantly reminde...
HARRY LORAYNE There cannot be found in the animal kingdom a bat, or any other creature, so blind in its own range ...
HELEN HUNT JACKSON The peer-reviewed science also shows that human beings do not react in the same way as rats or other...
DAVID BOOTHE How should I know?" said Alice, surprised at her own courage. "It's no business of mine."
The Q...
LEWIS CARROLL History leaves no doubt that among of the most regrettable crimes committed by human beings have bee...
WENDELL BERRY I think Whitman more than any other poet possessed the gift of revealing to others the beauty of eve...
ELLA R. BLOOR We of Africa protest that, in this day and age, we should continue to be treated as lesser human bei...
ROBERT MUGABE We of Africa protest that, in this day and age, we should continue to be treated as lesser human bei...
ROBERT MUGABE Greater than scene is situation. Greater than situation is implication. Greater than all of these is...
EUDORA WELTY What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined... to strengthen e...
GEORGE ELIOT Is there in all the history of human folly a greater fool than a clergymen in politics?
PAT ROBERTSON You've got to S-M-I-L-E
To be H-A-Double-P-Y
SHIRLEY TEMPLE BLACK You can never underestimate the stupidity of the general public
SCOTT ADAMS What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined - to strengthen ea...
GEORGE ELIOT What greater thing is there for two human souls than to feel that they are joined ... to strengthen ...
GEORGE ELIOT We have to act carefully, so we don't send the wrong signal that we are caring for small animals mor...
HUANG HAILIANG Bore: one who has the power of speech but not the capacity for conversation.
BENJAMIN DISRAELI Seems to be a deep instinct in human beings for making everything compulsory that isn't forbidden.
ROBERT A. HEINLEIN The tattoo is just setting below his hp bone.
H e l l i s e m p t y
a n d a l l t h e d ...
TAHEREH MAFI I refuse to allow any man-made differences to separate me from any other human beings.
MAYA ANGELOU Besides the respect of the lives of human beings, all the animals and plants should be on the list t...
BUDDHA Maybe one day when we remember that we are animals, we will stop killing eachother like human beings...
CAMILLO BICA Maybe one day when we remember that we are animals, we will stop killing eachother like human beings...
CAMILLO MAC BICA They are more human and more brotherly towards one another, it seems to me, than we are. But perhaps...
ERICH MARIA REMARQUE The overall purpose of human communication is - or should be - reconciliation. It should ultimately ...
M. SCOTT PECK The destiny of our society is yours to make and you have a vastly greater importance to the world th...
POLYKARP KUSCH Not only are animals unable to avail themselves of language to assert their own rights, but many few...
GARY STEINER Human is what he decides to be.
ZAMAN ALI [But have no fear, there will be beer - the 4-H Club will sell Amber Bock by Budweiser.] It's a dark...
GEORGE ROCKWELL One has a greater sense of intellectual degradation after an interview with a doctor than from any ...
ALICE JAMES One has a greater sense of intellectual degradation after an interview with a doctor than from any h...
ALICE JAMES Human beings are the only animals of which I am thoroughly and cravenly afraid.
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW A dramatist is one who believes that the pure event, an action involving human beings, is more arres...
THORNTON WILDER Kindness is universal. Sometimes being kind allows others to see the goodness in humanity through yo...
GERMANY KENT The capacity to be alone is the capacity to love. It may look paradoxical to you, but it's not. It i...
OSHO Most human beings strongly believe that money is way less important than the life of a human being, ...
MOKOKOMA MOKHONOANA There's nothing better than to be rootless cosmopolitans who seamlessly merge into whatever soci...
TOM REISS It has been said that love is a function of communication. I believe that to be true. I believe, by ...
DAN PALLOTTA I have never killed anyone, fictional or otherwise. I have no idea what it’s like to kill someone,...
JOHN GREEN My own experience of over 60 years in biomedical research amply demonstrated that without the use of...
ALBERT SABIN Human beings have an almost unlimited capacity for self-delusion. We can justify any amount of sadne...
JOHN TWELVE HAWKS Many times I am asked why the suffering of animals should call forth more sympathy from me than the ...
ELLA WHEELER WILCOX Perhaps normal imperfect human beings simply preferred the company of other normal imperfect human b...
HARUKI MURAKAMI We live in worlds that we have forged and composed. It's much more true than any of the species ...
KEN ROBINSON The propensity to truck, barter and exchange one thing for another is common to all men, and to be f...
ADAM SMITH Surprisingly, the gigantic capacity of storage with the human brain is not utilized for a fraction o...
CHANDRABABU V.S. It seems to me that you might create any sort of character in a novel and there would be at least on...
SōSEKI NATSUME I I I I I I t t t t t t i i i i i i s s s s s s u u u u u u n n n n n n f f f f f f o o o o o o r r ...
TODD COBURN This foundational principle - that human beings derive their rights from God, rather than from the S...
ERNIE FLETCHER You couldn't ask for a better group of human beings helping another group of human beings in a time ...
GEORGE PAYNE All human beings are born entrepreneurs. Some get a chance to unleash that capacity. Some never got ...
MUHAMMAD YUNUS I suppose one has a greater sense of intellectual degradation after an interview with a doctor than ...
ALICE JAMES The unfortunate thing is that, sometimes, we slip, but, fortunately, consciously or unconsciously, w...
ERNEST AGYEMANG YEBOAH Only the liberation of the natural capacity for love in human beings can master their sadistic destr...
WILHELM REICH Bores bore each other too; but it never seems to teach them anything.
DON MARQUIS People need to realize we're human beings too, not the animals they think we are.
AMARAL DUCLONA What makes you think that human beings are sentient and aware? There's no evidence for it. Human bei...
MICHAEL CRICHTON It seems to me curious, not to say obscene and thoroughly terrifying, that it could occur to an asso...
JAMES AGEE Kindness and compassion towards all living things is a mark of a civilized society. Conversely, crue...
CéSAR CHáVEZ Travel is the most private of pleasures. There is no greater bore than the travel bore. We do not in...
VITA SACKVILLE-WEST Travel is the most private of pleasures. There is no greater bore than the travel bore. We do not in...
VITA SACKVILLE-WEST Language is the gateway of the mind and a bridge that connects us to other human beings. Language en...
KILROY J. OLDSTER I think that now that we are seeing multimedia types of productions with videos and pictures and hum...
MONTEL WILLIAMS Human beings -- human children especially -- seldom deny themselves the pleasure of exercising a pow...
CHARLOTTE BRONTë I think health care is more about love than about most other things. If there isn't at the core ...
DONALD BERWICK Never underestimate the capacity of another human being to have exactly the same shortcomings you ha...
LEIGH STEINBERG As a society, we have come to a point where people too often treat one another as objects and opport...
GAIL PURSELL ELLIOTT I think what human beings need is to be able to laugh at the absurd, hold on to ambiguity, and learn...
TAVI GEVINSON There cannot be greater rudeness than to interrupt another in the current of his discourse.
JOHN LOCKE By saying that human issues are more important than non-human issues, that violence to humans is mor...
MANGO WODZAK A coin is examined, and only after careful deliberation, given to a beggar, whereas a child is flung...
PETER WESSEL ZAPFFE Dare to follow your own paths.
Dare to be yourself.
Dare to be different.
LAILAH GIFTYAKITA The news today is just the tip of the iceberg for L & H. This is a classic story of the chicken comi...
LANNY DAVIS Men are the only animals that devote themselves, day in and day out, to making one another unhappy. ...
H. L. MENCKEN It's a tradition that continues, and yet we have opposition from groups that think that animals shou...
HERB BEHNKE There is only enough time in this world for me to be me. I don't have time to be anyone else." H,L,S...
SUSIE L HILL Human beings are born with just two basic fears. One is the fear of loud noises. The other is the fe...
RONALD ROOD

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 The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it is t...
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