Henry Louis Mencken, born in 1880, was an American journalist, controversialist, cultural critic and scholar of American English who influenced U.S. fiction through the 1920s. His best work includes various reviews and essays titled Prejudices and The American Language. He opposed theism, organised religion, democracy and populism. He also vehemently opposed America's participation in both the World Wars.
He died in 1956 and by this time he has gained a place of a leading authority on the language of his country. Below are some of the best HL Mencken Quotes.
Happiness is the china shop; love is the bull.
It means that happiness is as fragile as a store filled with Chinaware. And love can be a powerful wrecker as a bull. Love, as much beauty it adds to our life, it also has the potential to wreak havoc of the same degree. Just like an unrestrained bull can destroy the entire store of delicate material, uninhibited love can destroy all your peace and happiness if it doesn't turn out favourably.
A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
A cynic is a man who always looks at the negative aspects of things, even when he is looking at the most innocuous things or is present in the plainest situation. A cynic when smells flower will think of the worst-case scenario with least odds of happening like a funeral.
The best teacher is not the one who knows most but the one who is most capable of reducing knowledge to that simple compound of the obvious and wonderful.
He says that the best teacher need not be the most knowledgeable one. What makes him best is his ability to teach the most complex of concepts in the simplest form in the way that students find it fascinating. Even if he doesn't have all the answers, his method will make the subject interesting for his students. The interest will ignite curiosity, encouraging them to explore more questions on the topic and set out in search of their answers.
The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
It is a wildly held belief that people get wiser as they get older. It is because we generally believe, as we age, we learn through all kinds of experiences. But Mencken has a different view on this point, saying that even though he is getting old, he doesn't feel any wiser and is prone to make a similar amount of mistakes.
An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it makes a better soup.
An idealist is one who believes in high ideals and principles, sometimes too high to be real. He sees things as it should be rather than at its real value. They look for perfection and might turn a blind eye to blemishes of things. Just because a rose is pretty to look at and sweet to smell doesn't make it tasty to eat too.
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, maybe happy.
Puritanism is a belief in a Judgemental God who rewards or punishes you according to your actions. They follow a stringent moral code and dissuade all kinds of self-indulgence and hedonism. The most orthodox kind might even see, doing certain things for sheer joy as sinful. Mencken makes a satire saying that they make such rules because they are afraid of others happiness.
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. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable...
He made many statements criticising the intentions and behaviour of the government. He says that the government is so corrupt that no honourable sensible man will be a good fit for it. A man with good values and who can hold his ground will realise in no time that he is working under an insane and dishonest government who don't tolerate any kind of disobedience. He can prove to play an important part in the dissolution of the government.
Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.
He believes that all the talk of a conscience that helps us stay on a moral path is nothing but propaganda by religious men. Conscience is a fear that God is watching you, and so you need always to follow the very narrow path of righteousness and thus, go about your life walking on eggshells.
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We must respect the other fellow's religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
We should respect other's religion but only to an extent. A man believes he has a perfect life with a beautiful wife and smart children even if that's not true. He does so not because he is delusional, but because he loves them and believing in a perfect family makes him happy and contented. You can respect that belief but only to an extent. You won't start believing in the same notions just because you are respectful. In the same way, one should expect others to respect his religion but not to the extent of blindly following it.
A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.
Mencken is greatly disillusioned by politicians. He believes all of them are dishonest, selfish and incompetent. He believes it is impossible to find a single politician who is a good person as well as a good administrator, as impossible as an honest burglar.
Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority.
When you are certain that your moral code is correct and everything outside of it is wrong and sinful, it can be a huge setback for personal growth. The same mentality when propagated and seen in the major population of the society, it can curb the growth of the entire culture. This kind of morality will stop people from questioning beliefs and arriving at truths. It will limit their understanding of the universe or even worse, will lead to the propagation of incorrect understanding.
I am suspicious of all the things that the average people believes.
He says he feeds his curiosity and questions every belief. He especially challenges widely held beliefs.
A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it.
The above quote might be subject to various interpretation. One of the interpretation is that he is calling out the ways of philosophers and theologians and pointing out the futility of their works. He says that a philosopher being aware of his inadequacy to find the greater truths still embarks upon a pointless journey similar to a blind man trying to find a black cat in a dark room which is not even there. A deluded theologian will make himself believe that he has found the cat even though it doesn't exist. Just like he believes he has found God even though there are chances He might not be present.
Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.
As already conveyed from the above quotes, Mencken was a strong atheist. He didn't believe in God and felt the concept of faith to be utterly pointless. He says faith is nothing but an irrational belief that something which is very much unlikely, might happen.
You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.
We can not do anything to increase our life span. Old age and death are inevitable. However, we can do so much to increase the quality and impact of our life.
The most erroneous assumption is to the effect that the aim of public education is to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence, and so make them fit to discharge the duties of citizenship in an enlightened and independent manner.
He condemns the education system of the 20th century. He says it is not aimed at enlightening young minds with universal truths but at separating the creamy layer of the society's youth and training them to be able to serve their flawed government better. They aim to bring in the uniformity of thoughts and opinions among these young minds and dispel the slightest originality and uniqueness.
The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.
He says that the desire to rule the society is projected in front of others as a humanitarian cause to protect the people from all the evils and help uplift them. Not only the person is tricking others, but generally, he is living by this delusion that he is trying to save mankind and not rule over it.
We are here and it is now. Further than that, all human knowledge is moonshine.
In the above lines, he emphasises the realities of today than the uncertainties of tomorrow. Worrying about the future contingencies is unproductive and disrespectful towards the current moment. Every knowledge of future is foolish as future is improbable and highly uncertain.
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
He says that each human has their own set of values and belief system. And when the society forces him to conform, he sees it as an invasion on his ideas and gets tempted to revolt against law and order to protect his values.
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.
He says that when he dies, people shouldn't mourn his death. But if they want to pay respect to his soul, they should try to be more loving and forgiving toward others. He wishes that after his death the world should be a better place where a sinner gets a second chance. He also hopes that people will take more chances on love as he suggests to woo a nice homely girl and lead a happy life.
Co-author: Shreya Arya
A digital marketing enthusiast with experience in HR and hospital management, Shreya has wide interests ranging from philosophy, psychology to latest trends in automation. She is also a freelance content writer and loves lending beautiful words to ideas and feelings.
