The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animal.
Quote, saying and phrase by: H.L. Mencken
The chief value of money lies in the fac…
The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world in which it is overestimated.
Quote, saying and phrase by: H.L. Mencken
The difference between a moral man and a…
The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught.
Quote, saying and phrase by: H.L. Mencken
The government consists of a gang of men…
The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government they have only a talent for getting and holding office.
Quote, saying and phrase by: H.L. Mencken
The most common of all follies is to bel…
The most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.
Quote, saying and phrase by: H.L. Mencken
The older I grow the more I distrust the…
The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
Quote, saying and phrase by: H.L. Mencken
The penalty for laughing in a courtroom …
The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail if it were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence.
Quote, saying and phrase by: H.L. Mencken
The trouble with fighting for human free…
The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one’s time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
Quote, saying and phrase by: H.L. Mencken
The whole aim of practical politics is t…
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace in a continual state of alarm (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing them with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
Quote, saying and phrase by: H.L. Mencken
The world always makes the assumption th…
The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of truth–that the error and truth are simply opposite. They are nothing of the sort. What the world turns to, when it is cured on one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one.
Quote, saying and phrase by: H.L. Mencken