H

H. L. Mencken

75 quotes

H. L. Mencken (1880–1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, and cultural critic known as the "Sage of Baltimore." A fierce defender of free speech and a sharp observer of American life, Mencken skewered politics, religion, and popular culture with a wit that remains unmatched in American journalism.

“Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution?”

— H. L. Mencken

Funny

All Quotes by H. L. Mencken

“Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.”

— H. L. Mencken

Time

“Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.”

— H. L. Mencken

Funny

“No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.”

— H. L. Mencken

Great

“The theory seems to be that as long as a man is a failure he is one of God's children, but that as soon as he succeeds he is taken over by the Devil.”

— H. L. Mencken

Failure

“Women have simple tastes. They get pleasure out of the conversation of children in arms and men in love.”

— H. L. Mencken

Love

“The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world in which it is overestimated.”

— H. L. Mencken

Money

“Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another.”

— H. L. Mencken

Love

“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.”

— H. L. Mencken

Religion

“Nine times out of ten, in the arts as in life, there is actually no truth to be discovered there is only error to be exposed.”

— H. L. Mencken

Truth

“The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”

— H. L. Mencken

Age

“Communism, like any other revealed religion, is largely made up of prophecies.”

— H. L. Mencken

Religion

“All government, of course, is against liberty.”

— H. L. Mencken

Government

“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

— H. L. Mencken

Good

“On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

— H. L. Mencken

Great

“Temptation is an irresistible force at work on a movable body.”

— H. L. Mencken

Work

“Whenever you hear a man speak of his love for his country, it is a sign that he expects to be paid for it.”

— H. L. Mencken

Love

“If women believed in their husbands they would be a good deal happier and also a good deal more foolish.”

— H. L. Mencken

Good

“We are here and it is now. Further than that, all human knowledge is moonshine.”

— H. L. Mencken

Knowledge

“Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.”

— H. L. Mencken

Art

“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.”

— H. L. Mencken

Politics