Quotes

“If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner.” Henry Louis Mencken

“Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.” Henry Louis Mencken

“It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man.” Henry Louis Mencken

“It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.” Henry Louis Mencken

“Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.” Henry Louis Mencken

“Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.” Henry Louis Mencken

“A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers.” Henry Louis Mencken

“Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who would want to live in an institution?” Henry Louis Mencken

“Temptation is a woman's weapon and man's excuse.” Henry Louis Mencken

“A man may be a fool and not know it, but not if he is married.” Henry Louis Mencken

“If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl. H. L. Mencken Girl, Remember, Forgive Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.” Henry Louis Mencken

“On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” Henry Louis Mencken

“A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier.” Henry Louis Mencken

“It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.” Henry Louis Mencken

“The only really happy folk are married women and single men.” Henry Louis Mencken

“A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.” Henry Louis Mencken

“We must be willing to pay a price for freedom.” Henry Louis Mencken

“A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in.” Henry Louis Mencken

“Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another.” Henry Louis Mencken

“It doesn't take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause.” Henry Louis Mencken

“Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.” Henry Louis Mencken

“The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.” Henry Louis Mencken

“No one in this world, so far as I know - and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me - has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.” Henry Louis Mencken

“Honor is simply the morality of superior men.” Henry Louis Mencken

“Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” Henry Louis Mencken

“It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics or chemistry.” Henry Louis Mencken

“An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.” Henry Louis Mencken

“Women have simple tastes. They get pleasure out of the conversation of children in arms and men in love.” Henry Louis Mencken

“Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, it is seldom necessary to assume it.” Henry Louis Mencken

“No married man is genuinely happy if he has to drink worse whisky than he used to drink when he was single.” Henry Louis Mencken