Voting is simply a way of determining which side is the stronger without putting it to the test of fighting. H. L. Mencken More Quotes by H. L. Mencken More Quotes From H. L. Mencken Economic independence is the foundation of the only sort of freedom worth a damn H. L. Mencken economic independence foundation Life without sex might be safer but it would be unbearably dull. It is the sex instinct which makes women seem beautiful, which they are once in a blue moon, and men seem wise and brave, which they never are at all. Throttle it, denaturalize it, take it away, and human existence would be reduced to the prosaic, laborious, boresome, imbecile level of life in an anthill. H. L. Mencken wise beautiful sex You never push a noun against a verb without trying to blow up something. H. L. Mencken blow writing trying Why do men delight in work? Fundamentally, I suppose, because there is a sense of relief and pleasure in getting something done - a kind of satisfaction not unlike that which a hen enjoys on laying an egg. H. L. Mencken eggs work men No man is worthy of unlimited reliance-his treason, at best, only waits for sufficient temptation. H. L. Mencken temptation waiting men A home is not a mere transient shelter: its essence lies in the personalities of the people who live in it. H. L. Mencken home happiness lying The most popular man under a democracy is not the most democratic man, but the most despotic man. The common folk delight in the exactions of such a man. They like him to boss them. Their natural gait is the goose step. H. L. Mencken common-folk boss men All government, in its essence, is a conspiracy against the superior man: its one permanent object is to oppress him and cripple him. H. L. Mencken conspiracy essence men Capitalism under democracy has a further advantage: its enemies, even when it is attacked, are scattered and weak, and it is usually easily able to array one half of them against the other half, and thus dispose of both. H. L. Mencken democracies-have democracy enemy Sunday is a day given over by Americans to wishing that the themselves were dead and in Heaven, and that their neighbors were dead and in Hell. H. L. Mencken sunday wish heaven The way to hold a husband is to keep him a little jealous; the way to lose him is to keep him a little more jealous. H. L. Mencken jealousy marriage husband The way to deal with superstition is not to be polite to it, but to tackle it with all arms, and so rout it, cripple it, and make it forever infamous and ridiculous. Is it, perchance, cherished by persons who should know better? Then their folly should be brought out into the light of day, and exhibited there in all its hideousness until they flee from it, hiding their heads in shame. H. L. Mencken light criticism forever Government today is growing too strong to be safe. There are no longer any citizens in the world there are only subjects. They work day in and day out for their masters they are bound to die for their masters at call. Out of this working and dying they tend to get less and less. H. L. Mencken government dying strong You come into the world with nothing, and the purpose of your life is to make something out of nothing. H. L. Mencken change wisdom life The essence of science is that it is always willing to abandon a given idea, however fundamental it may seem to be, for a better one; the essence of theology is that it holds its truths to be eternal and immutable. To be sure, theology is always yielding a little to the progress of knowledge, and only a Holy Roller in the mountains of Tennessee would dare to preach today what the popes preached in the Thirteenth Century, but this yielding is always done grudgingly, and thus lingers a good while behind the event. H. L. Mencken essence science ideas Every man is his own hell. H. L. Mencken hell literature men All I ask is equal freedom. When it is denied, as it always is, I take it anyhow. H. L. Mencken denied equal equality No married man is genuinely happy if he has to drink worse whisky than he used to drink when he was single. H. L. Mencken scotch-whisky marriage men No one in this world, so far as I know - and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me - has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people. H. L. Mencken records people years The liberation of the human mind has never been furthered by dunderheads. H. L. Mencken liberation humans mind
