Henry Louis Mencken
United States
12 Sep 1880 // 29 Jan 1956
Journalist / Satirist /Social critic
12 Sep 1880 // 29 Jan 1956
Journalist / Satirist /Social critic
Quotes
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The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear - fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants above everything else is safety
The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom
The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out... without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, intolerable
The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animal
The basic fact about human existence is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore. It is not so much a war as an endless standing in line
Self-respect: the secure feeling that no one, as yet, is suspicious
Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them
No matter how long he lives, no man ever becomes as wise as the average woman of forty-eight
No matter how happily a woman may be married, it always pleases her to discover that there is a nice man who wishes that she were not
No man ever quite believes in any other man. One may believe in an idea absolutely, but not in a man
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On Anger: "For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."
Essays
Essays
On Destiny: "Our destiny exercises its influence over us even when, as yet, we have not learned its nature: it is our future that lays down the law of our today."
Human, All Too Human
Human, All Too Human
On Friendship: "A crowd is not company; and faces are but a gallery of pictures; and talk but a tinkling cymbal, where there is no love."
Essays
Essays