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H. L. Mencken

H. L. Mencken Quotes

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Famous H. L. Mencken Quotes

“Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant.”

KnowsMenInspirationalHumansHas BeensValuesMoralProgressMoralityEthicsCurrentsPositive AtheismCertaintyCivilizedSkepticalSkepticInferiorityDoubtedHuman ProgressMoral ValuesUncivilized
Book:Minority Report
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“The average man never really thinks from end to end of his life. The mental activity of such people is only a mouthing of cliches. What they mistake for thought is simply a repetition of what they have heard. My guess is that well over 80 percent of the human race goes through life without having a single original thought.”

PeopleThinkingMenHumansWellsEndsRaceMistakeHeardActivityPercentOriginalsAveragePositive AtheismHuman RaceRepetitionClicheAverage ManOriginal Thought
Author:H. L. Mencken
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“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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“The man who boasts that he habitually tells the truth is simply a man with no respect for it. It is not a thing to be thrown about loosely, like small change; it is something to be cherished and hoarded and disbursed only when absolutely necessary. The smallest atom of truth represents some man's bitter toil and agony; for every ponderable chunk of it there is a brave truth-seeker's grave upon some lonely ash-dump and a soul roasting in Hell.”

MenSoulTruthLyingHellHe ManTruth IsLonelyBraveGravesBitterThrownTelling The TruthAtomsAshesAgonySmallestToilBoastSeekersDumpChunksNo RespectSmall ChangesRoastingTruth Seekers
Author:H. L. Mencken
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“Off goes the head of the king, and tyranny gives way to freedom. The change seems abysmal. Then, bit by bit, the face of freedom hardens, and by and by it is the old face of tyranny. Then another cycle, and another. But under the play of all these opposites there is something fundamental and permanent - the basic delusion that men may be governed and yet be free.”

MenWayGivingMayPlaySeemsFacesBitsChangeKingsOppositesFundamentalsTyrannyPermanentDelusionCycles
Author:H. L. Mencken
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“I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.”

KnowsMenMadeSchoolScienceValuesBornKnowledgeTeacherAmountBirthCapacityDeterminationTestsExtraordinaryDetermineAccomplishAccomplishmentAcquireGood ManRecallsAcquisitionEagerness
Book:Prejudices: Third Series
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“All the charming and beautiful things, from the Song of Songs, to bouillabaisse, and from the nine Beethoven symphonies to the Martini cocktail, have been given to humanity by men who, when the hour came, turned from tap water to something with color in it, and more in it than mere oxygen and hydrogen.”

MenHas BeensBeautifulSongHumanityGivenWaterHoursFoodColorCookingMereAlcoholNineCulinaryBeautiful ThingsCharmingOxygenSymphonyCocktailsHydrogenMartiniTap Water
Author:H. L. Mencken
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“The harsh, useful things of the world, from pulling teeth to digging potatoes, are best done by men who are as starkly sober as so many convicts in the death-house, but the lovely and useless things, the charming and exhilarating things, are best done by men with, as the phrase is, a few sheets in the wind.”

MenWorldDoneHouseWindDrinkDrinkingAlcoholLovelyTeethUselessPhrasesPullingCharmingHarshSoberSheetsPotatoesDiggingLiquorDentistExhilaratingDrinking AlcoholFunny DrinkingFunny AlcoholAlcohol DrinkingDrinking FunnyConvictsUseful ThingsLiquor FunnyUseless ThingsAlcoholic Drinks
Book:Prejudices Fourth Series
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“The fundamental trouble with marriage is that it shakes a man's confidence in himself, and so greatly diminishes his general competence and effectiveness. His habit of mind becomes that of a commander who has lost a decisive and calamitous battle. He quite trusts himself thereafter.”

MenMindLostMarriageTroubleHabitBattleFundamentalsShakesWeddingDiminishCompetenceEffectivenessCommandersHabits Of Mind
Book:H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: First, Second, and Third Series
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“Only to often on meeting scientific men, even those of genuine distiction, one finds that they are dull fellows and very stupid. They know one thing to excess; they know nothing else. Pursuing facts too doggedly and unimaginatively, they miss all the charming things that are not facts. ... Too much learning, like too little learning, is an unpleasant and dangerous thing.”

KnowsMenLittlesFactsScienceKnowledgeToo MuchOne ThingDangerousMissingStupidScientistFellowsMeetingsGenuineDullExcessCharmingDangerous ThingsVery Stupid
Author:H. L. Mencken
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