H. L. Mencken quotes - page 9

the average man does not want to be free. he simply wants to be safe. (H. L. Mencken)
Never let inferiors do you a favor -- it will be extremely costly. View quote
H. L. Mencken
It is not materialism that is the chief curse of the world, as pastors teach, but idealism. Men get into trouble by taking their visions and hallucinations too seriously. View quote
H. L. Mencken
Man is a beautiful machine that works very badly. View quote
H. L. Mencken
Liberty and democracy are eternal enemies, and every one knows it who has ever given any sober reflection to the matter. View quote
H. L. Mencken
I confess I enjoy democracy immensely. It is incomparably idiotic, and hence incomparably amusing. View quote
H. L. Mencken
A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in. View quote
H. L. Mencken
Alimony - the ransom that the happy pay to the devil. View quote
H. L. Mencken
It is impossible to imagine the universe run by a wise, just and omnipotent God, but it is quite easy to imagine it run by a board of gods. View quote
H. L. Mencken
It is impossible to believe that the same God who permitted His own son to die a bachelor regards celibacy as an actual sin. View quote
H. L. Mencken
The chief contribution of Protestantism to human thought is its massive proof that God is a bore. (H. L. Mencken)
War will never cease until babies begin to come into the world with larger cerebrums and smaller adrenal glands. View quote
H. L. Mencken
A society made up of individuals who were all capable of original thought would probably be unendurable. View quote
H. L. Mencken
The essence of science is that it is always willing to abandon a given idea for a better one; the essence of theology is that it holds its truths to be eternal and immutable. View quote
H. L. Mencken
Have you ever watched a crab on the shore crawling backward in search of the Atlantic Ocean, and missing? That's the way the mind of man operates. View quote
H. L. Mencken
Democracy is only a dream: it should be put in the same category as Arcadia, Santa Claus, and Heaven. View quote
H. L. Mencken
As the arteries grow hard, the heart grows soft. View quote
H. L. Mencken
No man is genuinely happy, married, who has to drink worse gin than he used to drink when he was single. View quote
H. L. Mencken
American journalism (like the journalism of any other country) is predominantly paltry and worthless. Its pretensions are enormous, but its achievements are insignificant. View quote
H. L. Mencken
My guess is that well over 80 percent of the human race goes through life without having a single original thought. View quote
H. L. Mencken
I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs. (H. L. Mencken)
We must be willing to pay a price for freedom. View quote
H. L. Mencken
The way to deal with superstition is not to be polite to it, but to tackle it with all arms, and so rout it, cripple it, and make it forever infamous and ridiculous. Is it, perchance, cherished by persons who should know better? Then their folly should be brought out into the light of day, and exhibited there in all its hideousness until they flee from it, hiding their heads in shame. View quote
H. L. Mencken
Honor is simply the morality of superior men. View quote
H. L. Mencken
You never push a noun against a verb without trying to blow up something. View quote
H. L. Mencken