H. L. Mencken

All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not read more

All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them.

Demagogue: one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

Demagogue: one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

We must think of human progress, not as of something going on in the race in general, but as something read more

We must think of human progress, not as of something going on in the race in general, but as something going on in a small minority, perpetually beleaguered in a few walled towns. Now and then the horde of barbarians outside breaks through, and we have an armed effort to halt the process. That is, we have a Reformation, a French Revolution, a war for democracy, a Great Awakening. The minority is decimated and driven to cover. But a few survive- and a few are enough to carry on.

Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come back
to the pleasant fact that there are read more

Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come back
to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them.

How little it takes to make life unbearable: a pebble in the shoe, a cockroach in the spaghetti, a woman's read more

How little it takes to make life unbearable: a pebble in the shoe, a cockroach in the spaghetti, a woman's laugh.