The 100 Most Important HL Mencken Quotes From This Writer
Henry Louis Mencken was a renowned journalist, satirist, essayist and critic of American culture, who became famous for his aggressive and acidic opinions towards the Scopes Trial, calling it ‘the monkey trial’. His cultural opinions are studied by many to this day, since he was racist and anti-Semitic, at the same level as other famous people during the world wars.
To understand the reflection of a time marked by discrimination and values that today we would consider ultra-conservative, here we will take a tour of some of the HL Mencken quotes more important.
Perhaps we will never know his true inclinations, but we can learn more about his life and his vision of the world with the best phrases by HL Mencken, which we will show below.
1. War is a good thing, because it is honest, it admits the central fact of human nature…
A strange unpopular opinion about the benefits of war.
2. Trust is the feeling of being able to believe a person even when we know we would lie in their place.
Your perception about the background of trust.
3. It is completely legal for a Catholic to avoid pregnancy by resorting to mathematics, although it is still prohibited to resort to physics or chemistry.
A critique of the conflict between science and religion.
4. What is a political campaign if not a concentrated effort to remove a group of politicians who are bad, and install others who are believed to be better. The first conclusion, I think, is always correct; the second is certainly false.
A direct detractor of the way politics was handled.
5. A cynic is someone who, when he smells flowers, immediately looks for a coffin.
Always seeing the negative side of life.
6. For every human problem there is always an easy, clear, plausible and wrong solution.
Things don’t always happen the way we expect, but sometimes that’s for the best.
7. Love is like a war, easy to start, difficult to end, impossible to forget.
All our experiences in love always leave an indelible mark.
8. Nature hates a fool.
Warning us that we must be clever in this world.
9. Theology: effort to explain what is not known, putting it in terms of not being “worthy” of knowing.
Denying the imposing nature of religion, since its concepts are the only correct ones.
10. Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
Certainly, when we fall in love there is an element of illusion in it.
11. Religion encompasses concepts that go against all common sense. It can only be defended by making assumptions and adopting rules of logic that are never heard in any other field of human thought.
One of his criticisms of the oppressive church system.
12. Remorse: Regret for having waited so long to do something.
One of the most difficult weights to undo.
13. Live so that you can look anyone in the eye and tell them to go to hell.
Never regret what you do.
14. The king’s head falls, and tyranny becomes freedom. The change seems abysmal. Then, piece by piece, the face of freedom hardens, and little by little it becomes the same old face of tyranny. Then another cycle, and then another.
Not all politicians who promote democracy want the freedom of the people, but rather seek to obtain absolute power.
15. A famous man is one who is known by many people he is glad not to know.
Behind the admiration of some, there is a lot of greed behind it.
16. Democracy is the art of managing the circus from the ape cage.
He never agreed with the way democracy is developed.
17. It takes a naturally trusting person a long time to reconcile himself to the idea that God will not help him after all.
Many people have this type of conflict, where they must find a middle ground for their beliefs.
18. The older I get, the more I distrust the general belief that old age brings wisdom.
Do you believe that old age brings absolute wisdom?
19. Definition of a rich man: someone who earns a hundred dollars more than his sister-in-law’s husband.
When money becomes a race to be better than the other.
20. I believe in only one thing: freedom; but I don’t believe in freedom enough to want to impose it on anyone.
Freedom is a responsibility and right of each person.
21. Consciousness: inner voice that warns us that someone may be watching.
Conscience does not always leave us calm, but rather it is a tool to hide our sins.
22. An idealist is a man who, starting from the fact that a rose smells better than a cabbage, deduces that a rose soup would also taste better.
Excessive idealism causes us to lose direction in life.
23. The main value of money lies in the fact that we value it more than it is worth.
It is we who impose the value of money and place it above anything.
24. The most dangerous man for any government is the man who has the ability to think things for himself, without caring about superstitions or taboos.
Perhaps that is why we seek to silence as many voices as possible.
25. Puritanism: The tormenting fear that someone, somewhere, is happy.
Religious fanaticism creates dissatisfied and fearful people.
26. It is impossible to imagine the universe managed by a wise, just and omnipotent God, but it is very easy to imagine it managed by a council of gods.
Speaking of the fact that there is not only one God, but several of them.
27. When ‘A’ bothers or hurts ‘B’ under the pretext of saving or improving ‘X’, ‘A’ is a scoundrel.
No end justifies an unjust means.
28. Faith can be succinctly defined as an illogical belief that the improbable will happen.
Faith can be present in many things that generate positive change.
29. Every decent man is ashamed of the government under which he lives.
Every person should fully understand the weight of choosing a good or bad politician.
30. Envy is the theory that someone else has just as little taste.
Envy is a feeling that makes people hate for no reason.
31. Every election is a kind of advance auction of stolen goods.
A dark destiny about the politics of a nation.
32. The basic fact of human existence is, not a tragedy, but a boredom. It’s not so much a war as it is waiting in a line of people. The objection to it is not that it is predominantly painful but that it is meaningless.
Speaking of the discouragement that comes to thousands of people as they go through life.
33. It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything.
Is it possible to hate everything?
34. When a man laughs at his problems he loses many friends. They never forgive being stripped of their prerogative.
With our own security we scare away the people who feed on our misfortunes.
35. Injustice is relatively easy to bear; What is truly unbearable is justice.
Not all justice is fair, especially if it can be bought.
36. No one has gone bankrupt by undervaluing the taste of the American public.
Consumerism has tainted the prospects of Americans.
37. If after I leave this valley you ever remember me and wish to please my spirit, forgive a sinner and wink at a simple girl.
We are all sinners, but that does not take away our ability to contribute a grain of sand for good.
38. In any clash between a knave and a fool the sympathy of humanity leans toward the knave.
Likability goes hand in hand with a person’s appearance and attitude.
39. The average man does not want to be free. He just wants to be safe.
The security of being able to have stability for the rest of your life.
40. Socialism: nothing more than the theory that the slave is always more virtuous than his master.
A political notion that has been used to give way to dictatorships or the decline of a nation.
41. Every government is, in its essence, a conspiracy against the superior man: its only permanent objective is to oppress and ruin him.
A negative view of the main purpose of governments.
42. Lawyer: Someone who protects us from thieves by removing temptation.
A sarcastic opinion about the work of lawyers.
43. Before a man speaks, it is always good to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, you rarely have to assume.
It is always better not to expect anything from anyone to avoid being disappointed.
44. Every government, obviously, is against Freedom.
Do you think that no government is fair and honest enough to bring peace?
45. Time is the great equalizer, even in the field of morality.
Time can put things in their place.
46. There is no memory of a happy philosopher in human history.
Philosophers live a fine line between happiness and tragedy.
47. Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends.
It is always insisting, especially at night to give us insomnia.
48. Court: A place where Jesus Christ and Judas Iscariot would be equal, with the bets in favor of Judas.
A place where everyone is innocent until proven guilty.
49. One of the most saccharine human delusions is the notion that friendship must be eternal, or, at any rate, life, and that any act that establishes a term is somehow discreditable.
Not all things last forever because we are constantly changing.
50. Happiness is peace after conflict, overcoming difficulties, a feeling of security and well-being.
Knowing that we were able to overcome an obstacle successfully.
51. Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.
We all have value and something to give.
52. Poverty is a deafness that acts under all forms of human activity, without excluding spiritual ones.
Poverty is one of the most demanding global problems that exist.
53. You enter the world with nothing, and the purpose of your life is to make something out of nothing.
We build our own life.
54. The objective of practical politics is to keep the population alarmed by threatening it with an incessant series of scaremongers, all of them imaginary.
Creating imaginary scandals to distract people from what politicians are really hiding.
55. Socialist: a man who suffers from an overwhelming conviction to believe what is not true.
Socialism is a smokescreen.
56. As democracy is perfected, the office of president increasingly represents the inner soul of the people.
Democracy can only work if the leader of the people is in tune with their needs.
57. If a politician discovers that some of his constituents are cannibals, he will promise them missionaries for dinner.
Creating false promises to secure the votes that best suit them.
58. The time must inevitably come when humanity must overcome the imbecility of religion, as it has overcome the imbecility of religion’s ally, magic.
With the passage of time we have been able to overcome the mystical nature of religion.
59. A good politician is as unthinkable as an honest thief.
They are classified as ‘white collar thieves’.
60. On some great and glorious day, the simple people of the earth will finally achieve their heart’s desire and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
No one knows with certainty the true intentions of political leaders.
61. The fact is that the average man’s love of liberty is nine-tenths imaginary, exactly like his love of meaning, justice, and truth.
Freedom is assured more to people who have value to society.
62. The only people who are very happy are married women and single men.
Each person has the responsibility to find their own happiness on their own, rather than with someone else.
63. The effort to reconcile science and religion is almost always made, not by theologians, but by scientists incapable of completely getting rid of the piety absorbed by mother’s milk.
It is the scientists themselves who try to find a way to create a bridge between religion and science.
64. The only time you have a free press is when you have one.
Opinions are called into question, especially those that are not convenient for politicians.
65. Truth: Something that discredits someone.
The truth cannot be an excuse to tear someone down.
66. The most costly of follies is to vehemently believe in something that is obviously false. This is the primary occupation of humanity.
Sometimes we allow ourselves to be blinded by the things we imagine.
67. Poetry has done enough when it manages to delight, but prose must also convince.
Praising the power of letters.
68. Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution?
A negative stance towards marriage.
69. When a man and a woman marry, they form a single being; The first difficulty lies in deciding which one it is.
Marriage must go hand in hand with the commitment to seek a shared future.
70. A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that is not there. A theologian is the man who finds it.
Different positions in both professionals.
71. Jury. A group of twelve people who, having lied to the judge regarding his hearing, health and work commitments, have failed to deceive him.
Injustices in court are the order of the day.
72. Hurry is from the devil. Slowness is from God.
When we act impulsively, regret makes its way sooner or later.
73. Judge: A law student who decides the grade of their exams.
All judges should be people with established values about what is fair.
74. Adultery is the application of democracy to love.
A liberalist view on infidelities.
75. Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance.
Perhaps an illusion that does us more harm than good.
76. The only permanent feeling of the inferior man is fear, the fear of the unknown, of the complex, of the inexplicable. The only thing he needs above all else is security.
That is why we must build bulletproof security, that way fear will not overcome us.
77. It is impossible to imagine that this world is truly civilized, while so much absurdity survives.
The world will not be a peaceful place until everyone manages to have optimal coexistence.
78. Self respect. The feeling of security that no one, until now, suspects anything.
It is the confidence that we create inside ourselves to take it out when necessary.
79. I am all for common sense, honesty and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
Promoting responsibility and decency in people.
80. What men value most in this world are not rights but privileges.
The more power a person acquires, the more they feel untouchable.
81. Of all escape mechanisms, death is the most efficient.
Death is the total end of everything.
82. A nation that remains at peace for too long becomes a kind of gigantic spinster.
An ‘excuse’ to go to war.
83. If such a board really exists, it operates precisely like the board of a corporation that is losing money.
About the council governed by the gods on the decisions of the world.
84. A bachelor wants a wife but is glad he doesn’t have one.
The perpetual debate between being in a relationship or not.
85. A man who can laugh, even if only at himself, is never truly miserable.
People who have a good mood are able to face situations in a better way.
86. It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and in all places, to assume… that every citizen is a criminal. His only apparent purpose, pursued with implacable and furious diligence, is to convert supposition into fact.
All those who are against the government are suspects in their eyes.
87. Man becomes civilized not in proportion to his willingness to believe, but in proportion to his facility to doubt.
Doubt makes us look for the most optimal answers to improve.
88. Let us trust in God, who always deceived us in the past.
Showing your position regarding belief in God.
89. The theater is not a place for laborious speculation, but for entertaining performances.
Theater is a refuge for the capacities of our imagination.
90. The New Deal began – like the Salvation Army – promising the salvation of humanity. But it ended up – like the Salvation Army – opening buying and selling shops and disturbing the peace.
Reflecting on the drastic change of The New Deal.
91. Single people know more about women than married people; If it weren’t so, they would be too.
It is common for many people to flee from a commitment as a couple.
92. Under the play of all these opposites there is something fundamental and permanent: the basic illusion that man can be governed and at the same time be free.
Can we have a government that guides us but without taking away our freedom?
93. Human life is basically a comedy.
Everyone decides if it is tragic or funny.
94. The well-known argument that crime is caused by poverty is an insult to the poor.
Crime can come from any social stratum.
95. Love is the illusion that one woman is different from another.
All people are different and therefore have unique things to offer.
96. Misogynist: man who hates women as much as women hate each other.
Women can also be their worst enemy.
97. I know some who are constantly drunk on books as other men are drunk on whiskey.
Will the excess of books also be a negative aspect?
98. When you hear a man talk about his love for his country, it is a sign that he expects to be paid for it.
Patriotism is disguised as personal interest or fanaticism.
99. Democrats are always happy. Democracy is a kind of laughing gas. It may not cure anything, but it certainly stops the pain.
A patch that stops bleeding but does not repair the wound.
100. In summary: 1) The cosmos is a giant Ferris wheel making 10,000 revolutions per minute. 2) The man is a dizzy fly taking a ride on that wheel. 3) Religion is the theory that the wheel was designed and set in motion to give you the ride.
Statements that define very well the position of this satirical journalist.
