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...no man of genuinely superior intelligence has ever been an actor. Even supposing a young man of appreciable mental powers to be lured upon the stage, as philosophers are occasionally lured into bordellos, his mind would be inevitably and almost immediately destroyed by the gaudy nonsense issuing from his mouth every night.

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
Ever
Intelligence
Nonsense
Gaudy
Even
Actor
Immediately
Supposing
Every
Stage
Powers
Genuinely
Mind
Almost
Philosopher
Philosophers
Would
Actors
Mouth
Inevitably
Men
Upon
Destroyed
Occasionally
Appreciable
Night
Mouths
Superior
Lured
Young
Mental
Superiors
Issuing

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No man is worthy of unlimited reliance-his treason, at best, only waits for sufficient temptation.
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The world always makes the assumption that the exposure of an error is identical with the discovery of truth - that error and truth are simply opposite. They are nothing of the sort. What the world turns to, when it has been cured of one error, is usually simply another error, and maybe one worse than the first one.
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Without a doubt there are women who would vote intelligently. There are also men who knit socks beautifully.
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The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught.
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Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.
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Why writers write I do not know. As well ask why a hen lays an egg or why a cow stands patiently while an underprivileged farmer burglarizes her.
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The intelligent, like the unintelligent, are responsive to propaganda.
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To sum up: 1. The cosmos is a gigantic fly-wheel making 10,000 revolutions a minute. 2. Man is a sick fly taking a dizzy ride on it. 3. Religion is the theory that the wheel was designed and set spinning to give him the ride.
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Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.
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The first kiss is stolen by the man the last is begged by the woman.
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There are some people who read too much: the bibliobibuli. I know some who are constantly drunk on books, as other men are drunk on whiskey or religion. They wander through this most diverting and stimulating of worlds in a haze, seeing nothing and hearing nothing.
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What fetched me instantly (and thousands of other newcomers with me) was the subtle but unmistakable sense of escape from the United States.
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The true function of art is to criticize, embellish and edit nature… the artist is a sort of impassioned proof-reader, blue penciling the bad spelling of God.
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The chief knowledge that's man on from reading books is the knowledge that very few of them are worth reading.
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Absence is the dark-room in which lovers develop negatives.
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Jealousy is a keen observer, but looks for all the wrong signs.
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Democracy is the art and science of running the circus from the monkey cage.
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Always remember this: If you don't attend the funerals of your friends, they will certainly not attend yours.
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What ails the truth is that it is mainly uncomfortable, and often dull. The human mind seeks something more amusing, and more caressing.
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If what I may believe - about gall-stones, the Constitution, castor oil, or God - is conditioned by law, then I am not a free man.
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