H. L. Mencken Quotes

Most popular H. L. Mencken Quotes

Change is not progress. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Change is not progress.
— H. L. Mencken

change

Adultery. Democracy applied to love. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Adultery. Democracy applied to love.
— H. L. Mencken A Book of Burlesques

infidelity

Criticism is prejudice made plausible. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Criticism is prejudice made plausible.
— H. L. Mencken

criticism

The cynics are right nine times out of ten. - H. L. Mencken quote.
The cynics are right nine times out of ten.
— H. L. Mencken

cynics

Happiness is the china shop; love is the bull. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Happiness is the china shop; love is the bull.
— H. L. Mencken A Little Book in C Major

happiness love

As the arteries grow hard, the heart grows soft. - H. L. Mencken quote.
As the arteries grow hard, the heart grows soft.
— H. L. Mencken A Mencken Chrestomathy

age

Adultery is the application of democracy to love. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Adultery is the application of democracy to love.
— H. L. Mencken

infidelity

The only American invention as perfect as a sonnet. - H. L. Mencken quote.
The only American invention as perfect as a sonnet.
— H. L. Mencken Six Men

martini

Alimony: The ransom that the happy pay to the devil. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Alimony: The ransom that the happy pay to the devil.
— H. L. Mencken A Book of Burlesques

alimony

Most people want security in this world, not liberty. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Most people want security in this world, not liberty.
— H. L. Mencken

safety freedom

Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends.
— H. L. Mencken

conscience

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
— H. L. Mencken

love

Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.
— H. L. Mencken

love

Of all escape mechanisms, death is the most efficient. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Of all escape mechanisms, death is the most efficient.
— H. L. Mencken

death

Time is a great legalizer, even in the field of morals. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Time is a great legalizer, even in the field of morals.
— H. L. Mencken A Book of Prefaces

morals time

Creator.  A comedian whose audience is afraid to laugh. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Creator.  A comedian whose audience is afraid to laugh.
— H. L. Mencken A Book of Burlesques

God

A professor must have a theory as a dog must have fleas. - H. L. Mencken quote.
A professor must have a theory as a dog must have fleas.
— H. L. Mencken

teaching

Nothing can come out of an artist that is not in the man. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Nothing can come out of an artist that is not in the man.
— H. L. Mencken
Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Love is the delusion that one woman differs from another.
— H. L. Mencken A Mencken Chrestomathy

love

Women do not like timid men. Cats do not like prudent rats. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Women do not like timid men. Cats do not like prudent rats.
— H. L. Mencken

risk-taking

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

happiness

Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.
— H. L. Mencken Prejudices, Third Series

justice injustice

A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers. - H. L. Mencken quote.
A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers.
— H. L. Mencken

courts

A man may be a fool and not know it, but not if he is married. - H. L. Mencken quote.
A man may be a fool and not know it, but not if he is married.
— H. L. Mencken

marriage Fools

A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar. - H. L. Mencken quote.
A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.
— H. L. Mencken Prejudices

politicians

Immorality.  The morality of those who are having a better time. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Immorality.  The morality of those who are having a better time.
— H. L. Mencken A Book of Burlesques

immorality

I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs. - H. L. Mencken quote.
I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs.
— H. L. Mencken

work

Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.
— H. L. Mencken

conscience

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
— H. L. Mencken

funny religion

When women kiss it always reminds one of prize fighters shaking hands. - H. L. Mencken quote.
When women kiss it always reminds one of prize fighters shaking hands.
— H. L. Mencken

women

Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Puritanism is the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
— H. L. Mencken

judging

For every problem there is one solution which is simple, neat and wrong. - H. L. Mencken quote.
For every problem there is one solution which is simple, neat and wrong.
— H. L. Mencken A Mencken Chrestomathy

problems solutions

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
— H. L. Mencken

taste

A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin. - H. L. Mencken quote.
A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
— H. L. Mencken

cynicism

Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking.
— H. L. Mencken A Mencken Chrestomathy

conscience

Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.
— H. L. Mencken

democracy

Poetry is a comforting piece of fiction set to more or less lascivious music. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Poetry is a comforting piece of fiction set to more or less lascivious music.
— H. L. Mencken Prejudices, Third Series

poetry

The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule. - H. L. Mencken quote.
The urge to save humanity is almost always a false front for the urge to rule.
— H. L. Mencken

power

Great artists are modest almost as seldom as they are faithful to their wives. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Great artists are modest almost as seldom as they are faithful to their wives.
— H. L. Mencken

artists modesty

In the duel of sex woman fights from a dreadnaught, and man from an open raft. - H. L. Mencken quote.
In the duel of sex woman fights from a dreadnaught, and man from an open raft.
— H. L. Mencken A Mencken Chrestomathy

sex men and women

I...hate all sports as rabidly as a person who likes sports hates common sense. - H. L. Mencken quote.
I...hate all sports as rabidly as a person who likes sports hates common sense.
— H. L. Mencken Heathen Days: Mencken’s Autobiography, 1890–1936

sports

No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. - H. L. Mencken quote.
No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
— H. L. Mencken

America

Tis always more blessed to give than to receive; for example, wedding presents. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Tis always more blessed to give than to receive; for example, wedding presents.
— H. L. Mencken

charity

Opera in English is, in the main, just about as sensible as baseball in Italian. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Opera in English is, in the main, just about as sensible as baseball in Italian.
— H. L. Mencken

opera

It is impossible to imagine Goethe or Beethoven being good at billiards or golf. - H. L. Mencken quote.
It is impossible to imagine Goethe or Beethoven being good at billiards or golf.
— H. L. Mencken

sports

The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom. - H. L. Mencken quote.
The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
— H. L. Mencken

age wisdom

Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.
— H. L. Mencken

faith

A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground. - H. L. Mencken quote.
A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.
— H. L. Mencken

politicians

The great artists of the world are never Puritans, and seldom even ordinarily respectable. - H. L. Mencken quote.
The great artists of the world are never Puritans, and seldom even ordinarily respectable.
— H. L. Mencken

artists

Whenever A attempts by law to impose his moral standards on B, A is most likely a scoundrel. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Whenever A attempts by law to impose his moral standards on B, A is most likely a scoundrel.
— H. L. Mencken The Official Rules

law

Sunday school: a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Sunday school: a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.
— H. L. Mencken

theology

The notion that anything is gained by fixing a language in a groove is cherished only by pedants. - H. L. Mencken quote.
The notion that anything is gained by fixing a language in a groove is cherished only by pedants.
— H. L. Mencken The American Language

language

For centuries, theologians have been explaining the unknowable in terms of the-not-worth-knowing. - H. L. Mencken quote.
For centuries, theologians have been explaining the unknowable in terms of the-not-worth-knowing.
— H. L. Mencken

theology

A Sunday school is a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents. - H. L. Mencken quote.
A Sunday school is a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience of their parents.
— H. L. Mencken

religion parents

Love is based on a view of women that is impossible to those who have had any experience with them. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Love is based on a view of women that is impossible to those who have had any experience with them.
— H. L. Mencken

love women cynical

Nothing is so abject and pathetic as a politician who has lost his job, save only a retired stud-horse. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Nothing is so abject and pathetic as a politician who has lost his job, save only a retired stud-horse.
— H. L. Mencken Chrestomathy

politicians

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
— H. L. Mencken
Every autobiography...becomes an absorbing work of fiction, with something of the charm of a cryptogram. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Every autobiography...becomes an absorbing work of fiction, with something of the charm of a cryptogram.
— H. L. Mencken Minority Report

autobiography

No matter how much a woman loved a man, it would still give her a glow to see him commit suicide for her. - H. L. Mencken quote.
No matter how much a woman loved a man, it would still give her a glow to see him commit suicide for her.
— H. L. Mencken

women

Voting is simply a way of determining which side is the stronger without putting it to the test of fighting. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Voting is simply a way of determining which side is the stronger without putting it to the test of fighting.
— H. L. Mencken Minority Report

voting

It is hard to believe that man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place. - H. L. Mencken quote.
It is hard to believe that man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.
— H. L. Mencken
Whenever a husband and a wife begin to discuss their marriage they are giving evidence at a coroner's inquest. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Whenever a husband and a wife begin to discuss their marriage they are giving evidence at a coroner's inquest.
— H. L. Mencken A Mencken Chrestomathy

marriage

The chief knowledge that a man gets from reading books is the knowledge that very few of them are worth reading. - H. L. Mencken quote.
The chief knowledge that a man gets from reading books is the knowledge that very few of them are worth reading.
— H. L. Mencken

books

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

war cynical peace

Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
— H. L. Mencken

society human nature

My guess is that well over 80 percent of the human race goes through life without having a single original thought. - H. L. Mencken quote.
My guess is that well over 80 percent of the human race goes through life without having a single original thought.
— H. L. Mencken

originality

Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
— H. L. Mencken

action

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 quote.
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

men

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 quote.
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
Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, it is seldom necessary to assume it. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, it is seldom necessary to assume it.
— H. L. Mencken
An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup. - H. L. Mencken quote.
An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.
— H. L. Mencken

idealist

The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true.  It is the chief occupation of mankind. - H. L. Mencken quote.
The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true.  It is the chief occupation of mankind.
— H. L. Mencken A Book of Burlesques

folly

It is impossible to believe that the same God who permitted His own son to die a bachelor regards celibacy as an actual sin. - H. L. Mencken quote.
It is impossible to believe that the same God who permitted His own son to die a bachelor regards celibacy as an actual sin.
— H. L. Mencken

Catholicism

Perhaps the most valuable of all human possessions, next to an aloof and sniffish air, is the reputation of being well-to-do. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Perhaps the most valuable of all human possessions, next to an aloof and sniffish air, is the reputation of being well-to-do.
— H. L. Mencken The Smart Set

reputation

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

morals

The artist is not a reporter, but a Great Teacher.  It is not his business to depict the world as it is, but as it ought to be. - H. L. Mencken quote.
The artist is not a reporter, but a Great Teacher.  It is not his business to depict the world as it is, but as it ought to be.
— H. L. Mencken Prejudices: First Series

artists

Science, at bottom, is really anti-intellectual. It always distrusts pure reason, and demands the production of objective fact. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Science, at bottom, is really anti-intellectual. It always distrusts pure reason, and demands the production of objective fact.
— H. L. Mencken

science experiments

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 quote.
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

the human condition boredom

A large part of altruism, even when it is perfectly honest, is grounded upon the fact that it is uncomfortable to have unhappy people about one. - H. L. Mencken quote.
A large part of altruism, even when it is perfectly honest, is grounded upon the fact that it is uncomfortable to have unhappy people about one.
— H. L. Mencken

charity

Why writers write I do not know. As well ask why a hen lays an egg or why a cow stands patiently while an underprivileged farmer burglarizes her. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Why writers write I do not know. As well ask why a hen lays an egg or why a cow stands patiently while an underprivileged farmer burglarizes her.
— H. L. Mencken The Constant Circle: H. L. Menken and His Friends

writers

Explanations exist, they have existed for all times, for there is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Explanations exist, they have existed for all times, for there is always a well-known solution to every human problem—neat, plausible, and wrong.
— H. L. Mencken New York Evening Mail

problems

It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics or chemistry. - H. L. Mencken quote.
It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics or chemistry.
— H. L. Mencken

Catholicism

Sin is a dangerous toy in the hands of the virtuous.  It should be left to the congenitally sinful, who know when to play with it and when to let it alone. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Sin is a dangerous toy in the hands of the virtuous.  It should be left to the congenitally sinful, who know when to play with it and when to let it alone.
— H. L. Mencken American Mercury

sin

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. - H. L. Mencken quote.
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.
— H. L. Mencken

democracy politics

A man's women folk, whatever their outward show of respect for his merit and authority, always regard him secretly as an ass, and with something akin to pity. - H. L. Mencken quote.
A man's women folk, whatever their outward show of respect for his merit and authority, always regard him secretly as an ass, and with something akin to pity.
— H. L. Mencken

men

Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong.
— H. L. Mencken Minority Report

certainty

War may make a fool of man, but it by no means degrades him; on the contrary, it tends to exalt him, and its net effects are much like those of motherhood on women. - H. L. Mencken quote.
War may make a fool of man, but it by no means degrades him; on the contrary, it tends to exalt him, and its net effects are much like those of motherhood on women.
— H. L. Mencken

war

We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the same sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart. - H. L. Mencken quote.
We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the same sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
— H. L. Mencken

religion

An author, like any other so-called artist, is a man in whom the normal vanity of all men is so vastly exaggerated that he finds it a sheer impossibility to hold it in. - H. L. Mencken quote.
An author, like any other so-called artist, is a man in whom the normal vanity of all men is so vastly exaggerated that he finds it a sheer impossibility to hold it in.
— H. L. Mencken Prejudices: Fifth Series

vanity authors

The allurement that women hold out to men is precisely the allurement that Cape Hatteras holds out to sailors: they are enormously dangerous and hence enormously fascinating. - H. L. Mencken quote.
The allurement that women hold out to men is precisely the allurement that Cape Hatteras holds out to sailors: they are enormously dangerous and hence enormously fascinating.
— H. L. Mencken The Smart Set

men and women

The effort to reconcile science and religion is almost always made, not by theologians, but by scientists unable to shake off altogether the piety absorbed with their mother's milk. - H. L. Mencken quote.
The effort to reconcile science and religion is almost always made, not by theologians, but by scientists unable to shake off altogether the piety absorbed with their mother's milk.
— H. L. Mencken

science & religion

Why do men delight in work?  Fundamentally, I suppose, because there is a sense of relief and pleasure in getting something done—a kind of satisfaction not unlike that which a hen enjoys on laying an egg. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Why do men delight in work?  Fundamentally, I suppose, because there is a sense of relief and pleasure in getting something done—a kind of satisfaction not unlike that which a hen enjoys on laying an egg.
— H. L. Mencken Minority Report

work

The most valuable of human possessions, next to a superior and disdainful air, is the reputation of being well-to-do. Nothing else so neatly eases one's way through life, especially in democratic countries. - H. L. Mencken quote.
The most valuable of human possessions, next to a superior and disdainful air, is the reputation of being well-to-do. Nothing else so neatly eases one's way through life, especially in democratic countries.
— H. L. Mencken

society wealth

It is the place where all the aspirations of the Western World meet to form one vast master aspiration, as powerful as the suction of a steam dredge.  It is the icing on the pie called Christian civilization. - H. L. Mencken quote.
It is the place where all the aspirations of the Western World meet to form one vast master aspiration, as powerful as the suction of a steam dredge.  It is the icing on the pie called Christian civilization.
— H. L. Mencken Prejudices

New York City

A living language is like a man suffering incessantly from small hemorrhages, and what it needs above all else is constant transfusions of new blood from other tongues. The day the gates go up, that day it begins to die. - H. L. Mencken quote.
A living language is like a man suffering incessantly from small hemorrhages, and what it needs above all else is constant transfusions of new blood from other tongues. The day the gates go up, that day it begins to die.
— H. L. Mencken The Smart Set

language

God is the immemorial refuge of the incompetent, the helpless, the miserable. They find not only sanctuary in his arms, but also a kind of superiority, soothing to their macerated egos; He will set them above their betters. - H. L. Mencken quote.
God is the immemorial refuge of the incompetent, the helpless, the miserable. They find not only sanctuary in his arms, but also a kind of superiority, soothing to their macerated egos; He will set them above their betters.
— H. L. Mencken Minority Report

God

To sum up:  1. The cosmos is a gigantic fly-wheel making 10,000 revolutions a minute.  2. Man is a sick fly taking a dizzy ride on it.  3. Religion is the theory that the wheel was designed and set spinning to give him the ride. - H. L. Mencken quote.
To sum up:  1. The cosmos is a gigantic fly-wheel making 10,000 revolutions a minute.  2. Man is a sick fly taking a dizzy ride on it.  3. Religion is the theory that the wheel was designed and set spinning to give him the ride.
— H. L. Mencken The Smart Set

religion

A professional politician is a professionally dishonorable man.  In order to get anywhere near high office he has to make so many compromises and submit to so many humiliations that he becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker. - H. L. Mencken quote.
A professional politician is a professionally dishonorable man.  In order to get anywhere near high office he has to make so many compromises and submit to so many humiliations that he becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker.
— H. L. Mencken
It is impossible to imagine the universe run by a wise, just and omnipotent God, but it is quite easy to imagine it run by a board of gods.  If such a board actually exists it operates precisely like the board of a corporation that is losing money. - H. L. Mencken quote.
It is impossible to imagine the universe run by a wise, just and omnipotent God, but it is quite easy to imagine it run by a board of gods.  If such a board actually exists it operates precisely like the board of a corporation that is losing money.
— H. L. Mencken Minority Report

gods

Capitalism undoubtedly has certain boils and blotches upon it, but has it as many as government?  Has it as many as marriage?  Has it as many as religion?  I doubt it.  It is the only basic institution of modern man that shows any genuine health and vigor. - H. L. Mencken quote.
Capitalism undoubtedly has certain boils and blotches upon it, but has it as many as government?  Has it as many as marriage?  Has it as many as religion?  I doubt it.  It is the only basic institution of modern man that shows any genuine health and vigor.
— H. L. Mencken American Mercury

capitalism

As democracy is perfected, the office [of U. S. president] represents more and more closely, the inner soul of the people.  On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron. - H. L. Mencken quote.
As democracy is perfected, the office [of U. S. president] represents more and more closely, the inner soul of the people.  On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
— H. L. Mencken The Baltimore Evening Sun

president

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. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on "I am not too sure." - H. L. Mencken quote.
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. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on "I am not too sure."
— H. L. Mencken Minority Report

morals progress doubt

It is the sex instinct that makes women seem beautiful, which they are only once in a blue moon, and men seem wise and brave, which they never are at all. Throttle it, denaturize it, take it away, and human existence would be reduced to the prosaic, laborious, boresome, imbecile level of life in an anthill. - H. L. Mencken quote.
It is the sex instinct that makes women seem beautiful, which they are only once in a blue moon, and men seem wise and brave, which they never are at all. Throttle it, denaturize it, take it away, and human existence would be reduced to the prosaic, laborious, boresome, imbecile level of life in an anthill.
— H. L. Mencken A Second Mencken Chrestomathy

sex

Women do not like timid men. Cats do not like prudent mice.
— H. L. Mencken

men

When women kiss it always reminds one of prize-fighters shaking hands.
— H. L. Mencken A Little Book in C Major

kiss

Opera in English is, in the main, just about as sensible a plea as baseball in Italian.
— H. L. Mencken American Mercury

opera

To be in love is merely to be in a state of perceptual anesthesia—to mistake an ordinary young man for a Greek god or an ordinary young woman for a goddess.
— H. L. Mencken Prejudices: First Series

love