H. L. Mencken Quotes

The true function of art is to criticize, embellish and edit nature… the artist is a sort of impassioned proof-reader, blue penciling the bad spelling of God.

Quotes to Explore
-
The greatest mathematicians, as Archimedes, Newton, and Gauss, always united theory and applications in equal measure.
-
I try to give the appearance that I have it all together and that I know what I'm talking about, but at the end of the day, I think I might be full of crap.
-
Perhaps things are not things but words: metaphors, words for other things.
-
Food production has affected the environment more than any other activity humans have engaged in. Humanity devotes more land to food production than anything else - roughly a third of the surface area of the earth, much of which was once forest but has been converted by humans into farms or grazing lands.
-
In motorsports we work in the grey areas a lot. You're trying to find where the holes are in the rule book.
-
I'm very involved with kids because after being a teacher for seven years, I just can't stop loving the kids. I am a teacher forever.
-
I have a carbohydrate and protein-rich diet. For breakfast, I typically have two slices of bread with butter or jam, four to five eggs - boiled or fried - a few bananas and a glass of milk.
-
I try to avoid conflict. I don't want people to be unhappy.
-
Oh, it is quite possible that none of us in 'Downton' will ever again get the ratings this has had. But from a career point of view, it has opened so many doors.
-
When I'm doing my own makeup, I just stick to a bit of black liner, some blush and a nude glossy lip.
-
I invented animals and birds – I had about two dozen. After working on them for six months, I sat down and just for fun wrote two dozen poems to accompany the drawings. It was for no one to every see, but a friend sent me in to an editor.
-
The common base of all the Semitic creeds, winners or losers, was the ever present idea of world-worthlessness. Their profound reaction from matter led them to preach bareness, renunciation, poverty; and the atmosphere of this invention stifled the minds of the desert pitilessly.
-
I do not know You, God, because I am in the way. Please help me to push myself aside.
-
The sleeplessness is proven; it eradicates your memory.
-
I'm obsessed with subtexts. I love that we often don't say what we feel. That gap between the two. I like it when actors reveal a lot without having to say it.
-
There's an awareness of fashion in this country, and it's not limited to gay people.
-
You do silly things for love sometimes and not-so-smart things for love.
-
As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.
-
In any country there must be people who have to die. They are the sacrifices any nation has to make to achieve law and order.
-
I'm not an activist; I don't look for controversy. I'm not a political person, but I'm a person with compassion. I care passionately about equal rights. I care about human rights. I care about animal rights.
-
I know that women are smarter than men. I don't wanna sound like I'm on a bandwagon for chicks but I do love 'em, can't front. Women are smarter than men. I know I gotta lot of chicks up my sleeve but you guys are twice as good.
-
Goodnight, thank you, and may your God go with you.
-
I remember going on carriage rides with Dad when we'd visit. I think quiet L.A. suited him better, but he loved to see shows here, he loved to visit his friends in the Hamptons.
-
The true function of art is to criticize, embellish and edit nature… the artist is a sort of impassioned proof-reader, blue penciling the bad spelling of God.