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Quote by H. L. Mencken

“Man is the yokel par excellence, the booby unmatchable, the king dupe of the cosmos. He is chronically and unescapably deceived, not only by the other animals and by the delusive face of nature herself--by his incomparable talent for searching out and embracing what is false, and for overlooking and denying what is true.”

Quote by H. L. Mencken

Book:Prejudices: Third Series

Work

Prejudices: Third Series

In this third series of essays and short stories, the author delves into the complexities of prejudice, examining various aspects of societal norms and their impact on individuals and communities. more

Author

H. L. Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. Born on September 12, 1880, and passing away on January 29, 1956, Mencken is renowned for his significant contributions to American culture and language, particularly through his satirical essays and critical analyses of the American establishment. more

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“A skeptic as to all ideas, including especially my own, I have never suffered a pang when the ideas of some other imbecile prevailed.”

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Book:Mencken Chrestomathy

Source: Mencken Chrestomathy

“No man ever quite believes in any other man. One may believe in an idea absolutely, but not in a man. In the highest confidence there is always a flavor of doubt--a feeling, half instinctive and half logical, that, after all, the scoundrel may have something up his sleeve.”

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Book:Mencken Chrestomathy

Source: Mencken Chrestomathy

“It costs more to maintain ten vices than one virtue.”

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Author:H. L. Mencken

“What ass first let loose the doctrine that the suffrage is a high boon and voting a noble privilege?”

Firsts Democracy Privilege Noble Doctrine Ass Voting Suffrage Boon

Author:H. L. Mencken

“The seasick passenger on an ocean liner detests the good sailor who stalks past him 265 times a day grandly smoking a large, greasy cigar. In precisely the same way the democrat hates the man who is having a better time in the world. This is the origin of democracy. It is also the origin of Puritanism.”

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Author:H. L. Mencken

“[T]here is only one sound argument for democracy, and that is the argument that it is a crime for any man to hold himself out as better than other men, and, above all, a most heinous offense for him to prove it.”

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Book:Mencken Chrestomathy

Source: Mencken Chrestomathy

“What I admire most in any man is a serene spirit, a steady freedom from moral indignation, and all-embracing tolerance--in brief,what is commonly called sportsmanship.”

Men Spirit Freedom Moral Tolerance Admire Steady Serene Indignation Sportsmanship Moral Indignation

Book:Mencken Chrestomathy

Source: Mencken Chrestomathy

“Nature abhors a moron.”

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Book:Mencken Chrestomathy

Source: Mencken Chrestomathy

“The aim of poetry, it appears, is to fill the mind with lofty thoughts--not to give it joy, but to give it a grand and somewhat gaudy sense of virtue. The essay is a weapon against the degenerate tendencies of the age. The novel, properly conceived, is a means of uplifting the spirit; its aim is to inspire, not merely to satisfy the low curiosity of man in man.”

Source: H.L. Mencken: Prejudices: First, Second, and Third Series

“The Puritan, of course, is not entirely devoid of aesthetic feeling. He has a taste for good form; he responds to style; he is even capable of something approaching a purely aesthetic emotion. But he fears this aesthetic emotion as an insinuating distraction from his chief business in life: the sober consideration of the all-important problem of conduct. Art is a temptation, a seduction, a Lorelei, and the Good Man may safely have traffic with it when it is broken to moral uses--in other words, when its innocence is pumped out of it, and it is purged of gusto.”

Source: Prejudices Second Series