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H. L. Mencken Quotes - Page 31

All Quotes Achievement Adultery Adventure Age Alcohol Arguing Art Atheism Atheist Beer Belief Business Change Character Children Choices College Comedy Common Sense Communism Conscience Conspiracy Cooking Country Courage Criticism Critics Culture Cynicism Death Democracy Determination Devil Difficulty Dignity Doubt Drinking Dying Earth Education Effort Ethics Evil Exercise Faith Fear Feelings Fighting Food Free Speech Freedom Funny Genius Giving God Golf Happiness Hate Heart Heaven Hell History Home Honesty Honor House Humanity Husband Ignorance Imagination Inspirational Intelligence Intuition Journalism Joy Judging Justice Kissing Knowledge Language Laughter Learning Liberty Life Literature Logic Love Lying Marriage Military Money Moon Morality Music Nature Office Originality Passion Past Patriotism Peace Personality Philosophy Politics Pot Poverty Prejudice Progress Propaganda Quality Quitting Reading Religion Respect Revolution Running Safety School Science Science And Religion Skins Slavery Society Son Sports Struggle Stupidity Style Success Suffering Sunday Sympathy Teaching Temptation Time Today Tragedy Trust Truth Virtue Voting Waiting War Water Weakness Wife Wisdom Work Writing Youth

Any defeat, however trivial, may be fatal to a savior of the plain people. They never admire a messiah with a bloody nose.

Any defeat, however trivial, may be fatal to a savior of the plain people. They never admire a messiah with a bloody nose.

People, Noses, May

Jealousy is a keen observer, but looks for all the wrong signs.

Jealousy, Looks, Observers

I have little belief in human progress. The human race is incurably idiotic. It will never be happy.

Race, Progress, Littles

I have often argued that a poet more than thirty years old is simply an overgrown child. I begin to suspect that there may be some truth in it.

Children, Years, May

H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.19, Knopf

If there had been any formidable body of cannibals in the country, Harry Truman would have promised to provide them with free missionaries fattened at the taxpayer's expense.

Country, Harry Truman, Body

The scent of frying astronomers long ago ceased to ascend to Yahweh.

Long Ago, Atheism, Yahweh

No romantic novel ever written in America, by man or woman, is one half so beautiful as My Ántonia.

Beautiful, Men, America

Public opinion, in its raw state, gushes out in the immemorial form of the mob's fear. It is piped into central factories, and there it is flavoured and colored and put into cans.

Public Opinion, Factories, States

"Notes on Democracy". Book by H. L. Mencken, 1926.

I know of no American who starts from a higher level of aspiration than the journalist. . . . He plans to be both an artist and a moralist -- a master of lovely words and merchant of sound ideas. He ends, commonly, as the most depressing jackass of his community -- that is, if his career goes on to what is called a success.

Depressing, Artist, Careers

I do not believe in democracy, but I am perfectly willing to admit that it provides the only really amusing form of government ever endured by mankind.

Believe, Government, Democracy

H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.8, Vintage

The difference between the smartest dog and the stupidest man - say a Tennessee Holy Roller - is really very small.

Dog, Men, Differences

H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.412, Knopf

I believe in only one thing and that thing is human liberty.

Believe, Liberty, Humans

"Letters of H. L. Mencken". Book by Guy J. Forgue, 1961.

Man, at his best, remains a sort of one-lunged animal, never completely rounded and perfect, as a cockroach, say, is perfect.

Animal, Men, Perfect

H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.19, Vintage

No sane man objects to palpable lies about him; what he objects to is damaging facts.

Lying, Men, Facts

The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animal. Some of their most esteemed inventions have no other apparent purpose - for example, the dinner party of more than two, the epic poem, and the science of metaphysics.

Funny, Party, Humor

H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.68, Knopf

No one hates his job so heartily as a farmer.

Jobs, Hate, Work

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.

Men, People, Political

The extortions and oppressions of government will go on so long as such bare fraudulence deceives and disarms the victims; so long as they are ready to swallow the immemorial official theory that protesting against the stealings of the archbishop's secretary's nephew's mistress' illegitimate son is a sin against the Holy Ghost.

Son, Government, Long

H.L. MENCKEN (1958). “PREJUDICES A SELECTION”

Law and its instrument, government, are necessary to the peace and safety of all of us, but all of us, unless we live the lives of mud turtles, frequently find them arrayed against us.

Government, Turtles, Law

The chief business of the nation, as a nation, is the setting up of heroes, mainly bogus.

Hero, Chiefs, Settings

H. L. Mencken (2009). “Prejudices: Third Series”, p.20, Cosimo, Inc.

The dying man doesn't struggle much and he isn't much afraid. As his alkalies give out he succumbs to a blest stupidity. His mindfogs. His will power vanishes. He submits decently. He scarcely gives a damn.

Death, Struggle, Men

H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.139, Vintage

A critic is a man who writes about things he doesn't like.

Writing, Men, Critics

Philadelphia is the most pecksniffian of American cities, and thus probably leads the world.

Cities, Philadelphia, World

H. L. Mencken (2010). “The American Language: A Preliminary Inquiry Into the Development of English in the United States”, p.152, Cosimo, Inc.

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.

Freedom, Men, Tolerance

H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.163, Vintage

The average man gets his living by such depressing devices that boredom becomes a sort of natural state to him.

Life, Depressing, Men

H. L. Mencken (2015). “In Defense of Women: Human Sexuality”, p.49, 谷月社

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