1,045 Quotes by H. L. Mencken

A critic is a man who writes about things he doesn't like.

[Art is] an attempt to escape from life.

Science is unflinchingly deterministic, and it has begun to force its determinism into morals. On some shining tomorrow a psychoanalyst may be put into the box to prove that perjury is simply a compulsion neurosis, like beating time with the foot at a concert or counting the lampposts along the highway.

For the habitual truth-teller and truth-seeker, indeed, the whole world has very little liking. He is always unpopular.

Haste is of the devil. Slowness is of God.

For centuries, theologians have been explaining the unknowable in terms of the-not-worth-knowing.

A sense of humor always withers in the presence of the messianic delusion, like justice and truth in front of patriotic passion.

No matter how much a woman loved a man, it would still give her a glow to see him commit suicide for her.

Those who can -- do. Those who can't -- teach.