111 Quotes by H.L. Mencken

The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable...

A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.

Misogynist: A man who hates women as much as women hate one another.

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.

The best teacher is not the one who knows most but the one who is most capable of reducing knowledge to that simple compound of the obvious and wonderful.

Nevertheless, it is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man.

Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.

It is a tragic but inescapable fact that most of the finest fruits of human progress, like all of the nobler virtues of man, are the exclusive possession of small minorities, chiefly unpopular and disreputable.

One cannot enter a State legislature or a prison for felons without becoming, in some measure, a dubious character.