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H. L. Mencken Quotes about Life

All H. L. Mencken 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 quotes 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

You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.

You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.

Life, Ocean, Sea

Whenever "A" attempts by law to impose his moral standards upon "B," "A" is most likely a scoundrel.

Life, War, Government

I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.

Life, Wise, Believe

An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.

Life, Food, Vegetables

H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.617, Vintage

It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.

Love, Life, Relationship

H.L. Mencken “A little book in C major”, Рипол Классик

Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking.

Funny, Life, Freedom

You come into the world with nothing, and the purpose of your life is to make something out of nothing.

Life, Change, Wisdom

The basic fact about human existence is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore. It is not so much a war as an endless standing in line.

Life, Spiritual, War

H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.131, Vintage

Watching two women kiss is like watching two prizefighters shake hands.

Life, Kissing, Hands

Life is a constant oscillation between the sharp horns of dilemmas.

Funny, Life, Choices

The more a man dreams, the less he believes.

Inspirational, Life, Motivational

H.L. Mencken (1920). “Prejudices Second Series”

I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs. There is in every living creature an obscure but powerful impulse to active functioning. Life demands to be lived. Inaction, save as a measure of recuperation between bursts of activity, is painful and dangerous to the healthy organism- in fact, it is almost impossible. Only the dying can be really idle.

Life, Success, Powerful

Everyman is thoroughly happy twice in his life, just after he has met his first love, and just after he has left his last one.

Life, True Love, First Love

Life is a dead-end street.

Life, Dead Ends, Streets

When I mount the scaffold at last these will be my farewell words to the sheriff: Say what you will against me when I am gone, but don't forget to add, in common justice, that I was never converted to anything.

Life, Goodbye, Farewell

Baltimore Evening Sun, June 12, 1922.

The most valuable of all human possessions, next to a superior and disdainful air, is the reputation of being well-to-do.

Funny, Life, Success

H. L. Mencken, Marion Elizabeth Rodgers (2010). “H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: First, Second, and Third Series”, Hubsta Ltd

How little it takes to make life unbearable: a pebble in the shoe, a cockroach in the spaghetti, a woman's laugh.

Life, Laughter, Shoes

H.L. Mencken (2012). “Mencken Chrestomathy”, p.620, 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

It is more blessed to give than receive; for example, wedding presents.

Funny, Life, Blessed

Lying is not only excusable; it is not only innocent; it is, above all, necessary and unavoidable. Without the ameliorations that it offers, life would become a mere syllogism and hence too metallic to be borne.

Life, Success, Lying

H. L. Mencken (1924). “Prejudices Fourth Series”

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