1,045 Quotes by H. L. Mencken

The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.

Christian theology is not only opposed to the scientific spirit; it is opposed to every other form of rational thinking.

The most valuable of all 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.

Never let your inferiors do you a favor - it will be extremely costly.

Hygiene is the corruption of medicine by morality. It is impossible to find a hygienist who does not debase his theory of the healthful with a theory of the virtuous. The true aim of medicine is not to make men virtuous; it is to safeguard and rescue them from the consequences of their vices.

Love us the triumph of imagination over intelligence.

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.

There is always an easy solution to every problem neat, plausible, and wrong.

Penetrating so many secrets, we cease to believe in the Unknowable. But there it sits, nevertheless, calmly licking its chops.