H. L. Mencken Quotes

The function of a newspaper in a democracy is to stand as a sort of chronic opposition to the reigning quacks. The minute it begins to out-whoop them it forfeits its character and becomes ridiculous.

H. L. Mencken

• Character
• Democracy
• Ridiculous

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Quotes to Explore

• It's insane that people have these Internet identities. It has very little to do with who we really are. As a writer, who I'm friends with, how I spend my time, what I look like, what I wear, what I eat, what kind of music I like - it's totally not important to the work.

  

  Ottessa Moshfegh
  • People
  • Time
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• My parents took me to see plays, starting from when I was very little. Oftentimes, I was too young to understand. I don't know what my parents were thinking - 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf' when I was eight years old, that kind of thing. So lots of times, I didn't understand what was going on, but I just loved the sound of dialogue.

  

  Aaron Sorkin
  • Thinking
  • Parents
  • Sound

• With the dreary season in which we travelled part of the route; with our minds much more actively employed in forming resources for our preservation from famine.

  

  Zebulon Pike
  • Season
  • Minds
  • Resources

• Pfft, I hate Christmas Day. It's for children and families. Not for people like me.

  

  Karl Lagerfeld
  • People
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• The work environment on 'Battlestar Galactica' is unbelievable, and it's something that doesn't come along very often.

  

  Katee Sackhoff
  • Work
  • Environment
  • Something

• I am busier now than I ever imagined I would be, but I feel blessed in that I have found what I am supposed to be doing with my life. It's wonderful to tell stories and have people listen to them.

  

  Kate DiCamillo
  • People
  • Life
  • Blessed

• Some days, just occasionally, when I've had just one too many chickpeas, drizzles of olive oil or chunks of feta, I crave a return to the sushi-filled joints of Tokyo.

  

  Yotam Ottolenghi
  • Days
  • Oil
  • Tokyo

• Well, youth is the period of assumed personalities and disguises. It is the time of the sincerely insincere.

  

  V. S. Pritchett
  • Time
  • Period
  • Youth

• I hate recording all the shows for the week in one day, because I want to be able to mention current events and pop culture. If Madonna punches Britney in the face today, I want to reference that on 'Wine Library TV' tomorrow. Monday's episode is always the best, because it's hot off the press.

  

  Gary Vaynerchuk
  • Today
  • Culture
  • Hate

• I always have bananas with me for energy.

  

  Samantha Bond
  • Energy
  • Always
  • Bananas

• What St. Francis and St. Dominic have done, that, by God's grace, I will do.

  

  Saint Ignatius
  • God
  • Done
  • Grace

• I am not antigovernment. I would not run a campaign against government.

  

  Jack Kemp
  • Government
  • Campaign
  • Antigovernment

• In metros, girls are very independent, conscious and aware. But in the interiors of our country, where education is not given importance, they continue to be oppressed. But it is important for every woman to acknowledge what she wants from herself rather than going for what people expect from her.

  

  Kangana Ranaut
  • People
  • Important
  • Country

• I was getting a little bored with my hair. It's kind of a symbolic thing, just getting rid of the past, moving forward. It's amazing what a reaction you get when you cut your hair.

  

  Pamela Anderson
  • Past
  • Amazing
  • Moving

• A lot of people have asked me whether I am a cynic or take a cynical view of politics and are often surprised when I say that I consider myself an optimist, but an optimist dressed in the robes of a realist.

  

  Beau Willimon
  • Politics
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• How dull it is to have people defining you.

  

  Octavia E. Butler
  • People
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• In high school, the fastest I ever ran was like a 4.67; that's pretty fast. But then, I only weighed 168 pounds.

  

  Gabriel Luna
  • School
  • High
  • Pretty

• You learn a lot about love before you ever get there. You learn at least as much about love from books as you do from watching your parents.

  

  A. S. Byatt
  • Love
  • Parents
  • Learn

• I've never directed anything before 'Mad Men,' so I don't feel I have any advice for the other directors.

  

  John Slattery
  • Men
  • Advice
  • Mad

• I genuinely haven't really had a rebellious phase. I think it's just because of the way I was brought up. I think it's because I left home when I was ten years old.

  

  Emma Watson
  • Up
  • Home

• If I have to play an obnoxious character, try to find a redeeming feature of him. The most obnoxious people in the world were people, and they had had a reason for doing what they did. So you try to find that and let the obnoxiousness come out.

  

  Fred Willard
  • People
  • World
  • Character

• When you mature, you also get more secure about yourself. You see things differently.

  

  Ana Ivanovic

• The function of a newspaper in a democracy is to stand as a sort of chronic opposition to the reigning quacks. The minute it begins to out-whoop them it forfeits its character and becomes ridiculous.

  

  H. L. Mencken
  • Character
  • Democracy
  • Ridiculous