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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A professor must have a theory as a dog must have fleas
A poet more than thirty years old is simply an overgrown child
A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier
A metaphysician is one who, when you remark that twice two makes four, demands to know what you mean by twice, what you mean by two, what by makes, and what by four
A man loses his sense of direction after four drinks; a woman loses hers after four kisses
A large part of altruism, even when it is perfectly honest, is grounded upon the fact that it is uncomfortable to have unhappy people about one
A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers
A great nation is any mob of people which produces at least one honest man a century
A great literature is chiefly the product of inquiring minds in revolt against the immovable certainties of the nation
A good politician . . . is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar
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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