H. L. Mencken ( 10 of 103 )
The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it read more
The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it is true because he gets pleasure out of it.
The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, read more
The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.
There is only one honest impulse at the bottom of Puritanism, and that is the impulse to punish the man read more
There is only one honest impulse at the bottom of Puritanism, and that is the impulse to punish the man with a superior capacity for happiness.
To denounce moralizing out of hand is to pronounce a moral judgment.
To denounce moralizing out of hand is to pronounce a moral judgment.
Every step in human progress, from the first feeble stirrings in the abyss of time, has been opposed by the read more
Every step in human progress, from the first feeble stirrings in the abyss of time, has been opposed by the great majority of men. Every valuable thing that has been added to the store of man's possessions has been derided by them when it was new, and destroyed by them when they had the power. They have fought every new truth ever heard of, and they have killed every truth-seeker who got into their hands.
I believe there is a limit beyond which free speech cannot go, but it's a limit that's very seldom mentioned. read more
I believe there is a limit beyond which free speech cannot go, but it's a limit that's very seldom mentioned. It's the point where free speech begins to collide with the right to privacy. I don't think there are any other conditions to free speech. I've got a right to say and believe anything I please, but I haven't got a right to press it on anybody else. .... Nobody's got a right to be a nuisance to his neighbors.
We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his read more
We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
Morality is the theory that every h uman act must be either right or wrong, and that 99 % of read more
Morality is the theory that every h uman act must be either right or wrong, and that 99 % of them are wrong.
Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.
Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity has made them good.
