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H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
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Showing quotations 11 to 30 of 65 total

Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood.: H. L. Mencken
Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends.: H. L. Mencken
- More quotations on: [Conscience]
Criticism is prejudice made plausible.: H. L. Mencken
- More quotations on: [Criticism] [Prejudice]
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.: H. L. Mencken
- More quotations on: [Democracy]
Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.: H. L. Mencken
- More quotations on: [Government]
Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.: H. L. Mencken
Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.: H. L. Mencken
For centuries, theologians have been explaining the unknowable in terms of the-not-worth-knowing.: H. L. Mencken
- More quotations on: [Religion]
For it is mutual trust, even more than mutual interest that holds human associations together. Our friends seldom profit us but they make us feel safe... Marriage is a scheme to accomplish exactly that same end.: H. L. Mencken
- More quotations on: [Trust]
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.: H. L. Mencken
I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.: H. L. Mencken
- More quotations on: [Government]
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.: H. L. Mencken
In the United States, doing good has come to be, like patriotism, a favorite device of persons with something to sell.: H. L. Mencken
Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.: H. L. Mencken
It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man.: H. L. Mencken
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.: H. L. Mencken
It is impossible to imagine Goethe or Beethoven being good at billiards or golf.: H. L. Mencken
- More quotations on: [Golf]
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.: H. L. Mencken
It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics or chemistry.: H. L. Mencken
It is the dull man who is always sure, and the sure man who is always dull.: H. L. Mencken

Showing quotations 11 to 30 of 65 total

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