H. L. Mencken Quotes (page 2)

1880–1956, American Editor, Author, Critic, Humorist
quotes
130
topics
12
Origin
What do these mean?
Topic
“In war the heroes always outnumber the soldiers ten to one.”
Heroes and Heroism
“The opera is to music what a bawdy house is to a cathedral.”
Music
“Injustice is relatively easy to bear what stings is justice.”
VerifiedPrejudices, Third Series (1922) · evidenceJustice
“Opera in English, is about as sensible as baseball in Italian.”
Opera
“To be in love is merely to be in a perpetual state of anesthesia.”
Love
“A gentlemen is one who never strikes a woman without provocation.”
Gentlemen
“It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.”
Belief
“I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs.”
Action
“Life is a constant oscillation between the sharp horns of dilemmas.”
Choice
“Self-respect: the secure feeling that no one, as yet, is suspicious.”
VerifiedA Mencken Chrestomathy (1949) · evidenceSelf-respect
“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”
VerifiedA Mencken Chrestomathy (1949) · evidencePuritans
“On one issue at least, men and women agree; they both distrust women.”
Agreement
“A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.”
Cynics and Cynicism
“If I ever marry it will be on a sudden impulse, as a man shoots himself.”
Marriage
“Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.”
Conscience
“The truth that survives is simply the lie that is pleasantest to believe.”
Lies and Lying
“A nun, at best, is only half a woman, just as a priest is only half a man.”
Nuns
“It is the dull man who is always sure, and the sure man who is always dull.”
VerifiedPrejudices, Second Series (1920) Ch. 1 · evidenceCertainty
“A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn't know.”
VerifiedA Mencken Chrestomathy (1949) · evidenceFame
“After all, all he did was string together a lot of old, well-known quotations.”
Quotations
“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.”
Problems
“Democracy is also a form of religion. It is the worship of jackals by jackasses.”
Democracy
“The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”
VerifiedPrejudices, Third Series (1922) · evidenceAge and Aging
“Let's not burn the universities yet. After all, the damage they do might be worse.”
Colleges and Universities
“Man weeps to think that he will die so soon; woman, that she was born so long ago.”
Men and Women
“Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.”
Theology
“Archbishop -- A Christian ecclesiastic of a rank superior to that attained by Christ.”
Churches
“The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on the poor.”
Crime and Criminals