Hope: A pathological belief in the occurrence of the impossible. H. L. Mencken More Quotes by H. L. Mencken More Quotes From H. L. Mencken The theory behind representative government is that superior men-or at least men not inferior to the average in ability and integrity-are chosen to manage the public business, and that they carry on this work with reasonable intelligence and honest. There is little support for that theory in known facts. H. L. Mencken averageintegritymen There are two kinds of music; German music and bad music. H. L. Mencken musichumorousfunny There is no possibility whatsoever of reconciling science and theology, at least in Christendom. Either Jesus arose from the dead or He didn't. If he did, then Christianity becomes plausible; if He did not, then it is sheer nonsense. I defy any genuine scientists to say that he believes in the Resurrection, or indeed in any other cardinal dogma of the Christian system. H. L. Mencken christianbelievejesus The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy. H. L. Mencken democracies-havefreedomevil Wealth - any income that is at least one hundred dollars more a year than the income of one's wife's sister's husband. H. L. Mencken husbandmoneyfunny 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. H. L. Mencken girlkindnessmemories Temptation is a woman's weapon and man's excuse. H. L. Mencken weaponstemptationmen I've made it a rule never to drink by daylight and never to refuse a drink after dark. H. L. Mencken drinkingdarkfood Opera in English is, in the main, just about as sensible as baseball in Italian. H. L. Mencken musicitalianbaseball It is the fundamental theory of all the more recent American law...that the average citizen is half-witted, and hence not to be trusted to either his own devices or his own thoughts. H. L. Mencken freedomlawaverage It is impossible to imagine Goethe or Beethoven being good at billiards or golf. H. L. Mencken gamblinggolfsports The effort to reconcile science and religion is almost always made, not by theologians, but by scientists unable to shake off altogether the piety absorbed with their mother's milk. H. L. Mencken effortmotherscience Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them. H. L. Mencken laughterfreedomfunny Imagine the Creator as a low comedian, and at once the world becomes explicable. H. L. Mencken comediandemocracyfreedom Legend: A lie that has attained the dignity of age. H. L. Mencken birthdaylyinghistory Most people are unable to write because they are unable to think, and they are unable to think because they congenitally lack the equipment to do so, just as they congenitally lack the equipment to fly over the moon. H. L. Mencken moonwritingthinking I know some who are constantly drunk on books as other men are drunk on whiskey. H. L. Mencken drunkmenbook There is in writing the constant joy of sudden discovery, of happy accident. H. L. Mencken writingjoydiscovery The more a man dreams, the less he believes. H. L. Mencken motivationalinspirationallife Hanging one scoundrel, it appears, does not deter the next. Well, what of it? The first one is at least disposed of. H. L. Mencken democracyfreedomdoe
