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The curse of man, and the cause of nearly all his woe, is his stupendous capacity for believing the incredible.

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
Curse
Nearly
Incredible
Capacity
Cause
Causes
Stupendous
Believe
Woe
Men
Believing

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The one permanent emotion of the inferior man is fear - fear of the unknown, the complex, the inexplicable. What he wants above everything else is safety.
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All government, in its essence, is a conspiracy against the superior man: it's one permanent object is to oppress him and cripple him... One of its primary functions is to regiment men by force, to make them as much alike as possible and as dependent upon one another as possible, to search out and combat originality among them.
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War is the only sport which is genuinely amusing. And it is the only sport which has any intelligible use.
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Liberty and democracy are eternal enemies, and every one knows it who has ever given any sober reflection to the matter.
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The final test of truth is ridicule. Very few dogmas have ever faced it and survived.
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Culture itself is neither education nor law-making: it is an atmosphere and a heritage.
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High-toned humanitarians constantly overestimate the sufferings of those they sympathize with.
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The editors are committed to nothing save this: to keep common sense as fast as they can, to belabor sham as agreeably as possible, to give civilized entertainment.
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American journalism (like the journalism of any other country) is predominantly paltry and worthless. Its pretensions are enormous, but its achievements are insignificant.
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The way to hold a husband is to keep him a little jealous the way to lose him is to keep him a little more jealous.
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The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government they have only a talent for getting and holding office.
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Religion is so absurd that it comes close to imbecility.
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A man loses his sense of direction after four drinks a woman loses hers after four kisses.
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The verdict of a jury is the a priori opinion of that juror who smokes the worst cigars.
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I am one of the few goyim who have ever actually tackled the Talmud. I suppose you now expect me to add that it is a profound and noble work, worthy of hard study by all other goyims. Unhappily, my report must differ from this expectation. It seems to me, save for a few bright spots, to be quite indistinguishable from rubbish.
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The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself.
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One horse-laugh is worth ten-thousand syllogisms.
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Who ever heard, indeed, of an autobiography that was not (interesting)? I can recall none in all the literature of the world
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The basic fact about human existence is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore. It is not so much a war as an endless standing in line.
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