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Whenever A annoys or injures B on the pretense of saving or improving X, A is a scoundrel.

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
Pretense
Improving
Annoying
Saving
Whenever
Injures
Scoundrel
Annoys
Scoundrels

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Every autobiography ... becomes an absorbing work of fiction, with something of the charm of a cryptogram.
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If a sense of duty tortures a man, it also enables him to achieve prodigies.
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As the arteries grow hard, the heart grows soft.
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All talk of winning the people by appealing to their intelligence, of conquering them by impeccable syllogism, is so much moonshine.
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The music critic, Huneber, could never quite make up his mind about a new symphony until he had seen the composer's mistress.
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At eight or nine, I suppose intelligence is no more than a small spot of light on the floor of a large and murky room.
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If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl.
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