H. L. Mencken ( 10 of 103 )
The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
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.
The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the read more
The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence.
No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
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 common to assume that human progress affects everyone- that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows read more
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.
The only good bureaucrat is one with a pistol at his head. Put it in his hand and it's good-by read more
The only good bureaucrat is one with a pistol at his head. Put it in his hand and it's good-by to the Bill of Rights.
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.
The psychologists and the metaphysicians wrangle endlessly over the nature of the thinking process in man, but no matter how read more
The psychologists and the metaphysicians wrangle endlessly over the nature of the thinking process in man, but no matter how violently they differ otherwise they all agree that it has little to do with logic and is not much conditioned by overt facts.
A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
