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H. L. Mencken

H. L. Mencken Quotes

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Famous H. L. Mencken Quotes

“I believe in only one thing and that thing is human liberty. If ever a man is to achieve anything like dignity, it can happen only if superior men are given absolute freedom to think what they want to think and say what they want to say. I am against any man and any organization which seeks to limit or deny that freedom... [and] the superior man can be sure of freedom only if it is given to all men.”

IfsThinkingMenWantBelieveHumansHappensGivenI BelieveFreedomLibertyOne ThingAchieveLimitsDignityOrganizationAbsolutesI Believe InDenySuperiorsSuperior ManAbsolute Freedom
Author:H. L. Mencken
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“It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone - that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows more than any man of, say, the Eighteenth Century, and is far more civilized. This assumption is quite erroneous. . . . The great masses of men, even in this inspired republic, are precisely where the mob was at the dawn of history. They are ignorant, they are dishonest, they are cowardly, they are ignoble. They know little if anything that is worth knowing, and there is not the slightest sign of a natural desire among them to increase their knowledge.”

IfsKnowsMenHumansLittlesDesireNaturalCommonKnowingProgressCenturyMassIncreaseAssumingHistoricalInspiredIgnorantDawnAssumptionCivilizedRepublicCowardlyHuman ProgressIgnobleBright Days
Author:H. L. Mencken
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“This passion, so unordered and yet so potent, explains the capacity for teaching that one frequently observes in scientific men of high attainments in their specialties-for example, Huxley, Ostwald, Karl Ludwig, Virchow, Billroth, Jowett, William G. Sumner, Halsted and Osler-men who knew nothing whatever about the so-called science of pedagogy, and would have derided its alleged principles if they had heard them stated.”

IfsMenDreamPassionPrinciplesHeardTeachingExampleCapacityAttainmentSpecialtyPedagogyHuxley
Book:H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: First, Second, and Third Series
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“There is no possibility whatsoever of reconciling science and theology, at least in Christendom. Either Jesus arose from the dead or He didn't. If he did, then Christianity becomes plausible; if He did not, then it is sheer nonsense. I defy any genuine scientists to say that he believes in the Resurrection, or indeed in any other cardinal dogma of the Christian system.”

IfsBelieveChristianJesusChristianityPossibilityScientistGenuineTheologyNonsenseResurrectionDogmaSheerAgnosticCardinalsPlausibleChristendom
Book:Minority Report
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“At the end of one millennium and nine centuries of Christianity, it remains an unshakable assumption of the law in all Christian countries and of the moral judgement of Christians everywhere that if a man and a woman, entering a room together, close the door behind them, the man will come out sadder and the woman wiser.”

IfsMenEndsCountryChristianTogetherLawRoomsBehindsMoralChristianityDoorsCenturyHe ManMen And WomenRemainsNineJudgementAssumptionWiserEnteringMillenniumUnshakableMoral Judgement
Book:Prejudices Fourth Series
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