H. L. Mencken ( 10 of 103 )
The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation read more
The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.
Strike an average between what a woman thinks of her husband a month before she marries him and what she read more
Strike an average between what a woman thinks of her husband a month before she marries him and what she thinks of him a year afterward, and you will have the truth about him. -H.L. Mencken.
No one in this world, so far as I know- and I have researched the records for years, and employed read more
No one in this world, so far as I know- and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me- has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.
One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. It is not only more effective; it is also vastly more intelligent.
One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms. It is not only more effective; it is also vastly more intelligent.
Imagine the Creator as a low comedian, and at once the world becomes explicable.
Imagine the Creator as a low comedian, and at once the world becomes explicable.
The idea that the sole aim of punishment is to prevent crime is obviously grounded upon the theory that crime read more
The idea that the sole aim of punishment is to prevent crime is obviously grounded upon the theory that crime can be prevented, which is almost as dubious as the notion that poverty can be prevented.
The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it read more
The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it is true because he gets pleasure out of it.
The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, read more
The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.
To wage a war for a purely moral reason is as absurd as to ravish a woman for a purely read more
To wage a war for a purely moral reason is as absurd as to ravish a woman for a purely moral reason.
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.
