Quotes by Mencken, H. L.

"The movies today are too rich to have any room for genuine artists. They produce a few passable craftsmen, but no artists. Can you imagine a Beethoven making $100, 000 a year?"

Mencken, H. L. on cinema   

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

Mencken, H. L. on colleges and universities   

"Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends."

Mencken, H. L. on science   

"Conscience is the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking."

Mencken, H. L. on science   

"To sum up: 1. The cosmos is a gigantic fly-wheel making 10, 000 revolutions a minute. 2. Man is a sick fly taking a dizzy ride on it. 3. Religion is the theory that the wheel was designed and set spinning to give him the ride."

Mencken, H. L. on cosmos   

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

Mencken, H. L. on crime and criminals   

"It is impossible to think of a man of any actual force and originality, universally recognized as having those qualities, who spent his whole life appraising and describing the work of other men."

Mencken, H. L. on criticism   

"Criticism is prejudice made plausible."

Mencken, H. L. on criticism   

"A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin."

Mencken, H. L. on cynics and cynicism
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"The cynics are right nine times out of ten."

Mencken, H. L. on cynics and cynicism   

" It is hard for the ape to believe he descended from man. Mencken, H. L."

Mencken, H. L. on