78 quotes by H. L. Mencken

“The basic fact about human existence is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore. It is not so much a war as an endless standing in line.” — H. L. Mencken

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“Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another.” — H. L. Mencken

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“To be in love is merely to be in a state of perceptual anesthesia - to mistake an ordinary young woman for a goddess.” — H. L. Mencken

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“A man always remembers his first love with special tenderness, but after that he begins to bunch them.” — H. L. Mencken

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“Adultery is the application of democracy to love.” — H. L. Mencken

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“Whenever you hear a man speak of his love for his country, it is a sign that he expects to be paid for it.” — H. L. Mencken

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“Bachelors know more about women than married men if they didn't they'd be married too.” — H. L. Mencken

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“Men have a much better time of it than women. For one thing, they marry later for another thing, they die earlier.” — H. L. Mencken

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“Whenever a husband and wife begin to discuss their marriage they are giving evidence at a coroner's inquest.” — H. L. Mencken

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“For it is mutual trust, even more than mutual interest that holds human associations together. Our friends seldom profit us but they make us feel safe. Marriage is a scheme to accomplish exactly that same end.” — H. L. Mencken

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“Honor is simply the morality of superior men.” — H. L. Mencken

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“The only really happy folk are married women and single men.” — H. L. Mencken

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“It is not materialism that is the chief curse of the world, as pastors teach, but idealism. Men get into trouble by taking their visions and hallucinations too seriously.” — H. L. Mencken

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“All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it.” — H. L. Mencken

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“What men value in this world is not rights but privileges.” — H. L. Mencken

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“To die for an idea it is unquestionably noble. But how much nobler it would be if men died for ideas that were true!” — H. L. Mencken

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“The chief value of money lies in the fact that one lives in a world in which it is overestimated.” — H. L. Mencken

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“The opera is to music what a bawdy house is to a cathedral.” — H. L. Mencken

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“War will never cease until babies begin to come into the world with larger cerebrums and smaller adrenal glands.” — H. L. Mencken

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“Poetry has done enough when it charms, but prose must also convince.” — H. L. Mencken

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“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.” — H. L. Mencken

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“A society made up of individuals who were all capable of original thought would probably be unendurable.” — H. L. Mencken

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“Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.” — H. L. Mencken

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“Time stays, we go.” — H. L. Mencken

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“I believe that it is better to tell the truth than a lie. I believe it is better to be free than to be a slave. And I believe it is better to know than to be ignorant.” — H. L. Mencken

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