In matters of personality, he had more in common with Hemingway than either man acknowledged-not only a combative spirit and a devotion to the cult of masculinity but also an abhorrence of romanticism and a nearly compulsive desire for order. Mencken's creed, stated later in his memoirs, is a close cousin of Hemingway's own. "Competence, indeed,” Mencken was to write, "is my chief admiration...And next to competence I put what is called being a good soldier-that is, not whining.”.