H. L. Mencken ( 10 of 103 )
No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world in
which it is overestimated.
The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world in
which it is overestimated.
No married man is genuinely happy if he has to drink worse whisky than he used to drink when he read more
No married man is genuinely happy if he has to drink worse whisky than he used to drink when he was single.
The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act even read more
The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act even when it has worked.
The true function of art is to...edit nature and so make it coherent and lovely. The artist is a sort read more
The true function of art is to...edit nature and so make it coherent and lovely. The artist is a sort of impassioned proofreader, blue-penciling the bad spelling of God.
I believe in only one thing: liberty; but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it read more
I believe in only one thing: liberty; but I do not believe in liberty enough to want to force it upon anyone.
For men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.
For men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.
Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come back
to the pleasant fact that there are read more
Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come back
to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them.
On one issue, at least, men and women agree; they both distrust women.
On one issue, at least, men and women agree; they both distrust women.
It is impossible to believe that the same God who permitted His own son to die a bachelor regards celibacy read more
It is impossible to believe that the same God who permitted His own son to die a bachelor regards celibacy as an actual sin.