H. L. Mencken Quotes
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It is difficult to imagine anyone having any real hopes for the human race in the face of the fact that the great majority of men still believe that the universe is run by a gaseous vertebrate of astronomical heft and girth, who is nevertheless interested in the minutest details of the private conduct of even the meanest man.
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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 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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No married man is genuinely happy if he has to drink worse whisky than he used to drink when he was single.
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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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Alimony - the ransom that the happy pay to the devil.
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All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it.
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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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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 trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians.
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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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Temptation is a woman's weapon and man's excuse.
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A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn't know.
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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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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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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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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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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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American journalism (like the journalism of any other country) is predominantly paltry and worthless. Its pretensions are enormous, but its achievements are insignificant.
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Man, without a saving touch of woman in him, is too doltish, too naive and romantic, too easily deluded and lulled to sleep by his imagination to be anything above a cavalryman, a theologian or a corporation director.
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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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I can't imagine a genuinely intelligent boy getting much out of college, even out of a good college, save it be a cynical habit of mind.
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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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Nine times out of ten, in the arts as in life, there is actually no truth to be discovered; there is only error to be exposed.