H.L. Mencken
Writer
1880-09-12
Quotes by H.L. Mencken
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I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind — that its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking. I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be anything but vicious. I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of witches, and deserves no more respect. 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 society. I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it is made of, and how it is run. I believe in the reality of progress. I — But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.
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Legend: A lie that has attained the dignity of age.
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War will never cease until babies begin to come into the world with larger cerebrums and smaller adrenal glands.
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I never smoked a cigarette until I was nine.
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As the arteries grow hard, the heart grows soft.
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In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.
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It doesn't take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause.
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An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.
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I never lecture, not because I am shy or a bad speaker, but simply because I detest the sort of people who go to lectures and don't want to meet them.
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A bad man is the sort who weeps every time he speaks of a good woman.
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Time stays, we go.
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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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Strike an average between what a woman thinks of her husband a month before she marries him and what she thinks of him a year afterward, and you will have the truth about him.
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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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A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers.
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The theory seems to be that as long as a man is a failure he is one of God's children, but that as soon as he succeeds he is taken over by the Devil.
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A Sunday school is a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.
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Honor is simply the morality of superior men.
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Self-respect: the secure feeling that no one, as yet, is suspicious.
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The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable.
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