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The smallest atom of truth represents some man's bitter toil and agony for every ponderable chunk of it there is a brave truth-seeker's grave upon some lonely ash-dump and a soul roasting in hell.

H. L. Mencken

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H. L. Mencken
Age: 75 †
Born: 1880
Born: September 12
Died: 1956
Died: January 29
Autobiographer
Essayist
Historian
Journalist
Linguist
Literary Critic
Satirist
Social Critic
Writer
Baltimore
Maryland
Henry Louis Mencken
Men
Honesty
Toil
Roasting
Lonely
Ashes
Chunk
Brave
Represents
Seeker
Hell
Atoms
Chunks
Upon
Smallest
Dump
Truth
Grave
Atom
Soul
Graves
Seekers
Every
Bitter
Agony

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Hanging one scoundrel, it appears, does not deter the next. Well, what of it? The first one is at least disposed of.
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Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.
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If there were only three women left in the world, two of them would immediately convene a court-martial to try the other one.
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The two main ideas that run through all of my writing, whether it be literary criticism or political polemic are these: I am strong in favor of liberty and I hate fraud.
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Wife: one who is sorry she did it, but would undoubtedly do it again.
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Life without sex might be safer but it would be unbearably dull
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The first kiss is stolen by the man the last is begged by the woman.
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The most popular man under a democracy is not the most democratic man, but the most despotic man. The common folk delight in the exactions of such a man. They like him to boss them. Their natural gait is the goose step.
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Nine times out of ten, in the arts as in life, there is actually no truth to be discovered there is only error to be exposed.
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Don't overestimate the decency of the human race.
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In the main, there are two sorts of books: those that no one reads and those that no one ought to read.
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The American people, North and South, went into the [Civil] war as citizens of their respective states, they came out as subjects ... what they thus lost they have never got back.
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Truth would quickly cease to be stranger than fiction, once we got as used to it.
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The true aim of medicine is not to make men virtuous it is to safeguard and rescue them from the consequences of their vices. The physician does not preach repentance he offers absolution.
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The real man lies in the depths of subconscious.
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The most valuable of all human possessions, next to a superior and disdainful air, is the reputation of being well-to-do.
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The believing mind is externally impervious to evidence. The most that can be accomplished with it is to induce it to substitute one delusion for another. It rejects all overt evidence as wicked.
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When women kiss it always reminds one of prize fighters shaking hands.
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The only way that a government can provide for jobs for all citizens is by deciding what every man should do.
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The difference between the smartest dog and the stupidest man - say a Tennessee Holy Roller - is really very small.
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