H. L. Mencken ( 10 of 103 )
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.
To denounce moralizing out of hand is to pronounce a moral judgment.
To denounce moralizing out of hand is to pronounce a moral judgment.
Every step in human progress, from the first feeble stirrings in the abyss of time, has been opposed by the read more
Every step in human progress, from the first feeble stirrings in the abyss of time, has been opposed by the great majority of men. Every valuable thing that has been added to the store of man's possessions has been derided by them when it was new, and destroyed by them when they had the power. They have fought every new truth ever heard of, and they have killed every truth-seeker who got into their hands.
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.
I believe there is a limit beyond which free speech cannot go, but it's a limit that's very seldom mentioned. read more
I believe there is a limit beyond which free speech cannot go, but it's a limit that's very seldom mentioned. It's the point where free speech begins to collide with the right to privacy. I don't think there are any other conditions to free speech. I've got a right to say and believe anything I please, but I haven't got a right to press it on anybody else. .... Nobody's got a right to be a nuisance to his neighbors.
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.
We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his read more
We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.
Morality is the theory that every h uman act must be either right or wrong, and that 99 % of read more
Morality is the theory that every h uman act must be either right or wrong, and that 99 % of them are wrong.
The truth that survives is simply the lie that is pleasantest to believe.
The truth that survives is simply the lie that is pleasantest to believe.
