Maxioms by H. L. Mencken
It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone- that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows read more
It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone- that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows more than any man of, say, the Eighteenth Century, and is far more civilized. This assumption is quite erroneous...The great masses of men, even in this inspired republic, are precisely where the mob was at the dawn of history. They are ignorant, they are dishonest, they are cowardly, they are ignoble. They know little if anything that is worth knowing, and there is not the slightest sign of a natural desire among them to increase their knowledge.
For men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.
For men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.
To denounce moralizing out of hand is to pronounce a moral judgment.
To denounce moralizing out of hand is to pronounce a moral judgment.
Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to read more
Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule -and both commonly succeed, and are right.
Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didn't, they'd be married too.
Bachelors know more about women than married men; if they didn't, they'd be married too.
