1,045 Quotes by H. L. Mencken

Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages.

Poetry is a comforting piece of fiction set to more or less lascivious music.

There are two kinds of music; German music and bad music.

In any combat between a rogue and a fool the sympathy of mankind is always with the rogue.

The difference between the smartest dog and the stupidest man - say a Tennessee Holy Roller - is really very small.

I hate sports the way people who like sports hate common sense.

The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.

Lying is not only excusable; it is not only innocent; it is, above all, necessary and unavoidable. Without the ameliorations that it offers, life would become a mere syllogism and hence too metallic to be borne.

The average man never really thinks from end to end of his life. The mental activity of such people is only a mouthing of clichés.