H. L. Mencken Quotes
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If what I may believe - about gall-stones, the Constitution, castor oil, or God - is conditioned by law, then I am not a free man.
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The music critic, Huneber, could never quite make up his mind about a new symphony until he had seen the composer's mistress.
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The critic, to interpret his artist, even to understand his artist, must be able to get into the mind of his artist; he must feel and comprehend the vast pressure of the creative passion.
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One does not arise from such a book as Sister Carrie with a smirk of satisfaction; one leaves it infinitely touched.
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Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
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What I admire most in any man is a serene spirit, a steady freedom from moral indignation, and all-embracing tolerance--in brief,what is commonly called sportsmanship.
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The argument that capital punishment degrades the state is moonshine, for if that were true then it would degrade the state to send men to war... The state, in truth, is degraded in its very nature: a few butcheries cannot do it any further damage.
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Some boys go to college and eventually succeed in getting out. Others go to college and never succeed in getting out. The latter are called professors.
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The American people, I am convinced, really detest free speech. At the slightest alarm they are ready and eager to put it down.
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The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians.
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Government today is growing too strong to be safe. There are no longer any citizens in the world there are only subjects. They work day in and day out for their masters they are bound to die for their masters at call. Out of this working and dying they tend to get less and less.
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The two main ideas that run through all of my writing, whether it be literary criticism or political polemic are these: I am strong in favor of liberty and I hate fraud.
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Evil: That which one believes of others. It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake
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Love, to the inferior man, remains almost wholly a physical matter. The heroine he most admires is the one who offers the grossest sexual provocation; the hero who makes his wife roll her eyes is a perambulating phallus.
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Temptation is a woman's weapon and man's excuse.
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Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didn't they'd be married too.
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It is impossible to imagine the universe run by a wise, just and omnipotent God, but it is quite easy to imagine it run by a board of gods.
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How little it takes to make life unbearable: a pebble in the shoe, a cockroach in the spaghetti, a woman's laugh.
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People constantly speak of 'the government' doing this or that, as they might speak of God doing it. But the government is really nothing but a group of men, and usually they are very inferior men. They may have some better man working for them, but they themselves are seldom worthy of any respect.
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When you sympathize with a married woman you either make two enemies or gain one wife and one friend.
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The way to hold a husband is to keep him a little jealous; the way to lose him is to keep him a little more jealous.
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History deals mainly with captains and kings, gods and prophets, exploiters and despoilers, not with useful men.
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It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
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All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it.