H. L. Mencken Quotes

After all, the world is not our handiwork, and we are not responsible for what goes on in it, save within very narrow limits.

H. L. Mencken

• World
• Responsibility
• Goes On

• Previous
• Next

Quotes to Explore

• 'Murder in the First' takes 12 episodes to explore the crime and the issues surrounding it, all in the hopes of answering the question, 'How did we get to this point?'

  

  Ian Anthony Dale
  • Question
  • First
  • Explore

• Too many executives I've met over the years have the mentality of a bodybuilder; they've come to accept the idea that growth is synonymous with success.

  

  Patrick Lencioni
  • Success
  • Growth
  • Years

• I think there's always a line between what is parody in good fun in chanting and what is intended to belittle certain segments of society.

  

  Gary Bettman
  • Good
  • Fun
  • Society

• Elizabeth, Lady C, claims to be writing at the limits of language. Would it not be insulting to her if I were diligently to follow after her, explaining what she means but is not smart enough to say?

  

  J. M. Coetzee
  • Writing
  • She
  • Language

• If you've followed my career at all, you will know that I perform best in comfortable surroundings. Though other leagues may seem more enticing to other players, it's something I'm just not interested in doing personally.

  

  Landon Donovan
  • May
  • Career
  • Know

• We make assumptions: nurses should be nice, teachers should be good. But everyone has a dark side, some darker than others.

  

  Karin Slaughter
  • Good
  • Nice
  • Dark

• We need to ask who is the enemy, and the enemies are terrorists.

  

  Zbigniew Brzezinski
  • Enemy
  • Need
  • Ask

• It was hard at school because, growing up, some people wanted to be friends with me just because they wanted to get to my dad and say that they had met him and had gone to our house. I didn't understand it at the time, but the older I got and the more aware of it I became, it started becoming hard.

  

  Francia Raisa
  • People
  • Up
  • Time

• There's this perception sometimes around here that I'm this Hollywood guy.

  

  Harry Anderson
  • Guy
  • Perception
  • Hollywood

• Time has changed and now is the age of spending.

  

  Zhang Yimou
  • Time
  • Age
  • Now

• We younger Negro artists who create now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves without fear or shame. If white people are pleased, we are glad. If they are not, it doesn't matter. We know we are beautiful. And ugly too.

  

  Langston Hughes
  • People
  • Beautiful
  • Fear

• In novels, and American novels in particular, it's not just about redemption, it's about forward movement and healing oneself. Americans are very big on getting better.

  

  Hanya Yanagihara
  • American
  • Better
  • Healing

• If you look at any normal organization, the CEO is the person with the highest E.Q. The person with the highest IQ is often in the back room running the financials or the operations. That's topsy turvy.

  

  Walter O'Brien
  • You
  • Running
  • Look

• Instead of going out to dinner, buy good food. Cooking at home shows such affection. In a bad economy, it's more important to make yourself feel good.

  

  Ina Garten
  • Good
  • Important
  • Home

• I don't think you'll ever be happy about anything unless you've done it.

  

  Gary Barlow Take That
  • Done
  • Happy
  • Think

• If they can go out and buy my albums, I can at least make the sacrifice to holler at the few people who call. A lot of times I'm busy so they'll get my voice mail. And if I can speak to them and I have time, I always text back. Because I think that's very important.

  

  Flo Rida
  • People
  • Time
  • Important

• My favourite job hands down - and I think I can speak for everyone involved - was 'Breaking Bad.'

  

  Aaron Paul
  • Job
  • Bad
  • Speak

• Ultimately, biological phenomena involve molecules, and understanding them involves understanding the underlying chemistry. In my opinion, this is a particularly exciting area of chemistry.

  

  Venkatraman Ramakrishnan
  • Understanding
  • Opinion
  • Chemistry

• Most of the time, I'm not scared. I get on with life, not because I'm a fatalist, but because that's the most congenial way of dealing with things. Indeed, most of the time, I'm not conscious of dealing with anything.

  

  John Diamond
  • Life
  • Time

• Our guys used to call him Mr. Clutch. He was a clutch pitcher.

  

  Don Zimmer
  • Guys
  • Call
  • Pitcher

• [London is] like the sight of a heavy sea from a rowing boat in the middle of the Atlantic.... One lives in it, afloat but half submerged in a heavy flood of brick, stone, asphalt, slate, steel, glass, concrete, and tarmac, seeing nothing fixable beyond a few score white spires that splash up like spits of foam above the next glum wave of dirty buildings.

  

  V. S. Pritchett
  • Up
  • Sea
  • Dirty

• Tessa was convinced that it was a lie, and also that everything she had done in her life, telling herself that it was for the best, had been no more than blind selfishness, generating confusion and mess all around. But who could bear to know which stars were already dead, she thought, blinking up at the night sky; could anybody stand to know they all were?

  

  Joanne Rowling
  • Life
  • Up
  • Done

• The wonder is not that the world is so easily governed, but that so small a number of persons will suffice for the purpose. There are dead weights in political and legislative bodies as in clocks, and hundreds answer as pulleys who would never do for politicians.

  

  William Gilmore Simms
  • World
  • Political
  • Purpose

• After all, the world is not our handiwork, and we are not responsible for what goes on in it, save within very narrow limits.

  

  H. L. Mencken
  • World
  • Responsibility
  • Goes On