Henry Louis Mencken

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Quote	Categories	Rating	Rate
"Life without sex might be safer but it would be unbearably dull. It is the sex instinct which makes women seem beautiful, which they are once in a blue moon, and men seem wise and brave, which they never are at all. Throttle it, denaturalize it, take it away, and human existence would be reduced to the prosiac, laborious, boresome, imbecile level of life in an anthill."	Beauty, Courage, Knowledge
"Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good."	Evil, Freedom, Generosity
"The fact that I have no remedy for the sorrows of the world is no reason for my accepting yours. It simply supports the strong possibility that yours is a fake."	Acceptance, Intelligence, Sorrow
"One may no more live in the world without picking up the moral prejudices of the world than one will be able to go to hell without perspiring."	Ability, Life, Monarchy
"It is inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for any public office."	Honesty, Strength, Truth
"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."	Humor, Laughter, Time
"Love is like war; easy to begin but very hard to stop."	Love, Military, War
"[A formula for answering controversial letters -- without even reading the letters:] Dear Sir (or Madame): You may be right."	Reading
"The typical American of today has lost all the love of liberty, that his forefathers had, and all their disgust of emotion, and pride in self- reliance. He is led no longer by Davy Crocketts; he is led by cheer leaders, press agents, word mongers, uplifters."	Age, America, Freedom
"Whenever A annoys or injures B on the pretense of saving or improving X, A is a scoundrel."	Miscellaneous
"The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all; it is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level, to breed a standard citizenry, to put down dissent and originality."	Creativity, Darkness, Education
"A man's women folk, whatever their outward show of respect for his merit and authority, always regard him secretly as an ass, and with something akin to pity. His most gaudy sayings and doings seldom deceive them; they see the actual man within, and know him for a shallow and pathetic fellow. In this fact, perhaps, lies one of the best proofs of feminine intelligence, or, as the common phrase makes it, feminine intuition."	Intelligence, Knowledge, Lies
"The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who Is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost invariably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And if he is not romantic personally, he is apt to spread discontent among those who are."	Ability, Anger, Change
"A sound American is simply one who has put out of his mind all doubts and questionings, and who accepts instantly, and as incontrovertible gospel, the whole body of official doctrine of his day, whatever it may be and no matter how often it may change. The instant he challenges it, no matter how timorously and academically, he ceases by that much to be a loyal and creditable citizen of the republic."	Ability, Acceptance, America
"School days are the unhappiest in the whole span of human existence. They are full of dull, unintelligible tasks, new and unpleasant ordinances, with brutal violations of common sense and common decency."	Education, Happiness, Intelligence
"But any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood, and that is what happened to Jesus."	Men
"The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule."	Lies, Men
"Every man is his own hell."	Men
"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats."	Change, Men, Time
"No man ever quite believes in any other man."	Lies, Men, Quitting
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Browse Henry Louis Mencken quotes by category:

Ability	Acceptance	Age
America	Anger	Beauty
Change	Courage	Creativity
Criticism	Darkness	Death
Doubt	Education	Evil
Excellence	Faith	Freedom
Generosity	Government	Happiness
Honesty	Humor	Imagination
Intelligence	Joy	Knowledge
Laughter	Law	Leadership
Liberty	Lies	Life
Light	Love	Loyalty
Men	Military	Miscellaneous
Mistakes	Monarchy	Politics
Pride	Quitting	Reading
Religion	Sanity	School
Sorrow	Strength	Taxes
Teaching	Time	Truth
War	Wisdom	Women