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The truth, indeed, is something that mankind, for some mysterious reason, instinctively dislikes. Every man who tries to tell it is unpopular, and even when, by the sheer strength of his case, he prevails, he is put down as 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
Tell
Sheer
Truth
Dislike
Scoundrel
Reason
Mysterious
Dislikes
Even
Indeed
Prevails
Trying
Case
Scoundrels
Every
Mankind
Unpopular
Something
Strength
Instinctively
Men
Cases
Tries

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A prohibitionist is the sort of man one couldn't care to drink with, even if he drank.
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When I think of anything properly describable as a beautiful idea, it is always in the form of music. I have written and printed probably 10,000,000 words in English but all the same I shall die an inarticulate man, for my best ideas beset me in a language I know only vaguely and speak only as a child.
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One smart reader is worth a thousand boneheads.
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It is not the drinker, but the man who has just stopped drinking, who thinks the world is going to the dogs.
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The idea that the sole aim of punishment is to prevent crime is obviously grounded upon the theory that crime can be prevented, which is almost as dubious as the notion that poverty can be prevented.
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Those tragic comedians, the Chamber of Commerce red hunters, the Women's Christian Temperance Union smellers, the censors of books, the Klan regulators, the Methodist prowlers, the Baptist guardians of sacred vessels-we have the national mentality of a police lieutenant.
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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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No man ever quite believes in any other man.
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Women have a hard enough time in this world: telling them the truth would be too cruel.
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Human progress is furthered, not by conformity, but by aberration.
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If experience teaches us anything at all, it teaches us this: that a good politician, under democracy, is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.
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There is something even more valuable to civilization than wisdom, and that is character.
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Pastor: One employed by the wicked to prove to them by his example that virtue doesn't pay.
H. L. Mencken
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Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
H. L. Mencken
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Every failure teaches a man something, to wit, that he will probably fail again.
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Culture itself is neither education nor law-making: it is an atmosphere and a heritage.
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I know of no human being who has a better time than an eager and energetic young reporter.
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The common notion that free speech prevails in the United States always makes me laugh.
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The aim of New Deals is to exterminate the class of creditors and thrust all men into that of debtors. It is like trying to breedcattle with all cows and no bulls.
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No matter how much a woman loved a man, it would still give her a glow to see him commit suicide for her.
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