H. L. Mencken Quotes

The theory seems to be that as long as a man is a failure he is one of God's children, but that as soon as he succeeds he is taken over by the Devil.

Quotes to Explore
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I would convert to Judaism if the operation didn't hurt so much.
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I went to bed last night dreaming of tuna melts. I love food.
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I don't want to say anything because I know I am unable to protect you from the harm that I see.
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Disciples be damned. It's not interesting. It's only the masters that matter. Those who create.
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Be who you are and be that well.
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My kind of director is an actor-director who writes.
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The biography of a writer - or even the autobiography - will always have this incompleteness.
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The first time you meet someone, the conversation is sort of on life support. You're just trying to live another moment in the life of the conversation.
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Anybody I'm dating, I don't want them to talk about my music. I don't talk about my music to them.
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I get inspired in certain places. You have to write in places like Amsterdam or Paris or New Zealand, when you're standing on a yacht, looking out at the middle of the ocean.
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Free societies are societies in motion, and with motion comes friction.
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In Swat, there are two jobs a woman's going to do: a teacher or a doctor. If not, then become a housewife.
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I was the highest-paid street performer, probably, in the history of Chicago. I was making like $800 a day.
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Decision making in a democracy depends above all on knowledge and not just the intel available to presidents and policymakers.
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Readers are very, very savvy, and I don't want to insult them by making them think I'm too lazy to get it right.
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I differ materially from Capt. Lewis, in my account of the numbers, manners, and morals of the Sioux.
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I'm more comfortable revealing myself than hiding behind metaphors. I respond to artists who reveal something of themselves.
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What do I want in a good fantasy book? Court politics and social interactions based around houses and cities. Powerful women and devious men. Drama and action with emotional ramifications. Frocks. Kissing. Swords. An intense impression of history in the world-building.
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I love to make a one-pot meal - think stir-fry but in the French Fricassee. I start with what takes the longest to roast and then add vegetables, fresh herbs, and starch until the meal is complete in one shot.
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It is the first rule in oratory that a man must appear such as he would persuade others to be: and that can be accomplished only by the force of his life.
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'Haven’t you ever heard of morale-building?' Khouri had asked.'Heard of it,' Volyova said. 'Don’t happen to agree with it. Would you rather be happy and dead, or scared and alive?'
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'When the root of your wrong is not from the heart, your wrong will make you to run to God the more.'
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All things being at God’s disposal, and the decision of salvation or death belonging to him, he orders all things by his counsel and decree in such a manner, that some men are born devoted from the womb to certain death, that his name may be glorified in their destruction.
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The theory seems to be that as long as a man is a failure he is one of God's children, but that as soon as he succeeds he is taken over by the Devil.