Quotations Weblog

My favorite quotations: H. L. Mencken

September 12th, 2005 by Michael Moncur in Biography

Continuing the my favorite quotations series, here are some of my favorite quotations from H. L. Mencken.

Henry Louis Mencken was born in Baltimore, Maryland on September 12, 1880, 125 years ago today. Mencken was a journalist, writer, social critic, and cynic, and one of my favorite people to quote. Wikipedia has a good biography of Mencken if you’d like to learn more.

All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it.
H. L. Mencken
An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.
H. L. Mencken
Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.
H. L. Mencken
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
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
H. L. Mencken
There is always a well-known solution to every human problem–neat, plausible, and wrong.
H. L. Mencken, Prejudices: Second Series, 1920

As always, it’s hard to choose favorites from someone who wrote so much and with such an inimitable style. See our complete list of H. L. Mencken quotations for more.

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