I never lecture, not because I am shy or a bad speaker, but simply because I detest the sort of people who go to lectures and don't want to meet them.

Quote by H L Mencken

Topics: H L Mencken Quotes

Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.

Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.

Whenever a husband and wife begin to discuss their marriage they are giving evidence at...

Whenever a husband and wife begin to discuss their marriage they are giving evidence at...

The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on...

The common argument that crime is caused by poverty is a kind of slander on...

Let's not burn the universities yet. After all, the damage they do might be worse.

Let's not burn the universities yet. After all, the damage they do might be worse.

Poetry has done enough when it charms, but prose must also convince.

Poetry has done enough when it charms, but prose must also convince.

There is always an easy solution to every problem - neat, plausible, and wrong.

There is always an easy solution to every problem - neat, plausible, and wrong.

A Sunday school is a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience...

A Sunday school is a prison in which children do penance for the evil conscience...

When a man laughs at his troubles he loses a great many friends. They never...

When a man laughs at his troubles he loses a great many friends. They never...

The worst government is often the most moral. One composed of cynics is often very...

The worst government is often the most moral. One composed of cynics is often very...

It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from...

It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from...

No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the...

No one in this world has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the...

Historian: an unsuccessful novelist.

Historian: an unsuccessful novelist.

When women kiss it always reminds one of prize fighters shaking hands.

When women kiss it always reminds one of prize fighters shaking hands.

Time stays, we go.

Time stays, we go.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to...

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to...

The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than...

The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than...

I write in order to attain that feeling of tension relieved and function achieved which...

I write in order to attain that feeling of tension relieved and function achieved which...

Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

Puritanism. The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

Life is a dead-end street.

Life is a dead-end street.

Wealth - any income that is at least one hundred dollars more a year than...

Wealth - any income that is at least one hundred dollars more a year than...