H. L. Mencken Quotes

1880-1956, American Editor, Author, Critic, Humorist
quotes
130
topics
12
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“No one hates his job so heartily as a farmer.”
Farming and Farmers
“Honor is simply the morality of superior men.”
Honor
“We must be willing to pay a price for freedom.”
Freedom
“The only cure for contempt is counter-contempt.”
Abuse
“As the arteries grow hard, the heart grows soft.”
Heart
“Temptation is a woman's weapon and man's excuse.”
Temptation
“Adultery is the application of democracy to love.”
Adultery
“Don't overestimate the decency of the human race.”
Decency
“Man is a beautiful machine that works very badly.”
Humankind
“Remorse — Regret that one waited so long to do it.”
VerifiedA Mencken Chrestomathy (1949) · evidenceRemorse
“Bachelors have consciences, married men have wives.”
Bachelor
“A judge is a law student who grades his own papers.”
Law and Lawyers
“Time is the great equalizer in the field of morals.”
Morality
“Legend : a lie that has attained the dignity of age.”
Legend
“Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends.”
VerifiedA Mencken Chrestomathy (1949) · evidenceConscience
“Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.”
Love
“Most people want security in this world, not liberty.”
Safety
“Alimony -- the ransom that the happy pay to the devil.”
Alimony
“The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.”
Democracy
“It is hard for the ape to believe he descended from man.”
Evolution
“Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another.”
VerifiedA Mencken Chrestomathy (1949) · evidenceLove
“Husbands never become good; they merely become proficient.”
Husbands
“What men value in this world is not rights but privileges.”
VerifiedMinority Report : H.L. Mencken's Notebooks (1956) · evidencePrivilege