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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.

“Each party steals so many articles of faith from the other, and the candidates spend so much time making each other's speeches, that by the time election day is past there is nothing much to do save turn the sitting rascals out and let a new gang in.”

— H. L. Mencken

Faith

All Quotes by H. L. Mencken

“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

“Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.”

— H. L. Mencken

Fear

“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

Anniversary

“All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it.”

— H. L. Mencken

Men

“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

“For it is mutual trust, even more than mutual interest that holds human associations together. Our friends seldom profit us but they make us feel safe. Marriage is a scheme to accomplish exactly that same end.”

— H. L. Mencken

Marriage

“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

“A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in.”

— H. L. Mencken

Best

“A man always remembers his first love with special tenderness, but after that he begins to bunch them.”

— H. L. Mencken

Love

“Every man sees in his relatives, and especially in his cousins, a series of grotesque caricatures of himself.”

— H. L. Mencken

Relationship

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

— H. L. Mencken

Work

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

— H. L. Mencken

Knowledge

“Adultery is the application of democracy to love.”

— H. L. Mencken

Love

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

— H. L. Mencken

Religion

“The only really happy folk are married women and single men.”

— H. L. Mencken

Men

“It is not materialism that is the chief curse of the world, as pastors teach, but idealism. Men get into trouble by taking their visions and hallucinations too seriously.”

— H. L. Mencken

Men

“Time stays, we go.”

— H. L. Mencken

Time

“Bachelors know more about women than married men if they didn't they'd be married too.”

— H. L. Mencken

Marriage

“Poetry has done enough when it charms, but prose must also convince.”

— H. L. Mencken

Poetry

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

— H. L. Mencken

Funny