H. L. Mencken Quotes
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There is, it appears, a conspiracy of scientists afoot. Their purpose is to break down religion, propagate immorality, and so reduce mankind to the level of brutes. They are the sworn and sinister agents of Beelzebub, who yearns to conquer the world, and has his eye especially upon Tennessee.]
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The cynics are right nine times out of ten.
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The objection to Puritans is not that they try to make us think as they do, but that they try to make us do as they think.
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No article of faith is proof against the disintegrating effects of increasing information; one might almost describe the acquirement of knowledge as a process of disillusion.
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The chief contribution of Protestantism to human thought is its massive proof that God is a bore.
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The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on the poor.
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What makes philosophy so tedious is not the profundity of philosophers, but their lack of art; they are like physicians who soughtto cure a slight hyperacidity by prescribing a carload of burned oyster-shells.
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The curse of man, and the cause of nearly all his woe, is his stupendous capacity for believing the incredible.
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It is a fact that no man improves much after the age of 60 and after 65, most suffer a really alarming decline. I could give some examples, but at the advice of my publisher will refrain from doing so.
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A church is a place in which gentlemen who have never been to heaven brag about it to persons who will never get there.
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So few men are really worth knowing, that it seems a shameful waste to let an anthropoid prejudice stand in the way of free association with one who is.
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Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution?
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All government, of course, is against liberty.
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One may no more live in the world without picking up the moral prejudices of the world than one will be able to go to hell without perspiring.
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Temptation is an irresistible force at work on a movable body.
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I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech - alike for the humblest man and the mightiest, and in the utmost freedom of conduct that is consistent with living in organized
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Poverty is a soft pedal upon the branches of human activity, not excepting the spiritual.
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In every woman's life there is one real and consuming love. But very few women guess which one it is.
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On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
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Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.
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I think the Negro people should feel secure enough by now to face a reasonable ridicule without terror. I am unalterably opposed to all efforts to put down free speech, whatever the excuse.
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Each party steals so many articles of faith from the other, and the candidates spend so much time making each other's speeches, that by the time election day is past there is nothing much to do save turn the sitting rascals out and let a new gang in.
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The most valuable of all human possessions, next to a superior and disdainful air, is the reputation of being well-to-do.
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The lunatic fringe wags the underdog.