Quotes and anectdotes from the wise to the foolish, and the courageous to the drunk
H. L. Mencken Writer
Gender: Male
Citizenship: United States
Born: Sep 12, 1880
Died: Jan 29, 1956
Henry Louis "H. L." Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, magazine editor, satirist, critic of American life and culture, and scholar of American English. Known as the "Sage of Baltimore", he is regarded as one of the most influential American writers and prose stylists of the first half of the twentieth century. Many of his books remain in print.
Mencken is known for writing The American Language, a multi-volume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States, and for his satirical reporting on the Scopes trial, which he dubbed the "Monkey Trial". He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians and contemporary movements.
As a frank admirer of German philosopher Nietzsche, he was a detractor of religion in general, populism and representative democracy, which he believed was a system in which inferior men dominated their superiors. Mencken was a keen cheerleader of scientific progress, very skeptical of economic theories and critical of osteopathic/chiropractic medicine.
During and after World War I, he was sympathetic to the Germans, and was very distrustful of British propaganda.
Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
wisdom
The only really happy folk are married women and single men.
men & women
A society made up of individuals who were all capable of original thought would probably be unendurable.
society
Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution?
funny & marriage
Adultery is the application of democracy to love.
love
In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.
politics & thankful
A bad man is the sort who weeps every time he speaks of a good woman.
good & time
The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
age & wisdom
Men have a much better time of it than women. For one thing, they marry later for another thing, they die earlier.
marriage, men, time & women
Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.
art, government & science
A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in.
best
Women always excel men in that sort of wisdom which comes from experience. To be a woman is in itself a terrible experience.
experience, men, wisdom & women
The opera is to music what a bawdy house is to a cathedral.
music
It is impossible to imagine the universe run by a wise, just and omnipotent God, but it is quite easy to imagine it run by a board of gods.
God & imagination
Communism, like any other revealed religion, is largely made up of prophecies.
religion
War will never cease until babies begin to come into the world with larger cerebrums and smaller adrenal glands.
peace & war
Women have simple tastes. They get pleasure out of the conversation of children in arms and men in love.
love, men & women
Whenever a husband and wife begin to discuss their marriage they are giving evidence at a coroner's inquest.
marriage
All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it.
men
To be in love is merely to be in a state of perceptual anesthesia - to mistake an ordinary young woman for a goddess.
love
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.
good & men
We must be willing to pay a price for freedom.
freedom