The quotations of

H. L. Mencken

American journalist and writer

1880–1956

63 quotes, most often on Government, Politics and Clever Jabs. Part of the Writers collection.

Lawyer — One who protects us against robbers by taking away the temptation.
A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949)
- Clever Jabs
- Laws
Wealth — Any income that is at least $100 more a year than the income of one’s wife’s sister’s husband.
A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949)
- Comedy
- Money
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
Prejudices, First Series (1919), Ch. 6, “The New Poetry Movement”
- Anger
- Comedy
An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.
A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949)
- Clever Jabs
In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for. As for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.
A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949)
- Clever Jabs
- Politics
Explanations exist; they have existed for all time; there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.
“The Divine Afflatus” in New York Evening Mail (16 November 1917)
- Ideas
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.
“Epitaph” from Smart Set (December 1921)
- Forgiveness
- Life & Death
The New Deal began, like the Salvation Army, by promising to save humanity. It ended, again like the Salvation Army, by running flop-houses and disturbing the peace.
A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949)
- Clever Jabs
- Politics
Socialism is the theory that the desire of one man to get something he hasn’t got is more pleasing to a just God than the desire of some other man to keep what he has got.
A Little Book in C Major, New York, NY, John Lane Company (1916) p. 51
- Economics
- Politics
The State is not force alone. It depends upon the credulity of man quite as much as upon his docility. Its aim is not merely to make him obey, but also to make him want to obey.
Minority Report: H.L. Mencken’s Notebooks (1956), p. 217-218
- Government
- Power
Public opinion, in its raw state, gushes out in the immemorial form of the mob’s fear. It is piped into central factories, and there it is flavoured and coloured and put into cans.
Notes on Democracy (1926)
- Politics
Shave a gorilla and it would be almost impossible, at twenty paces, to distinguish him from a heavyweight champion of the world. Skin a chimpanzee, and it would take an autopsy to prove he was not a theologian.
Baltimore Evening Sun (4 April 1927)
- Clever Jabs
- Theology
The most costly of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.
A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949)
- Truth & Lies
The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos.
“Le Contrat Social”, in: Prejudices: Third Series (1922)
- Government
- Thinking
In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods.
“Sham Battle”, Baltimore Evening Sun (26 October 1936); repr. A Carnival of Buncombe (1956), p. 325
- Government
- Voting

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