H. L. Mencken Quotes & Sayings (Page 6)

“Strike an average between what a woman thinks of her husband a month before she marries him and what she thinks of him a year afterward, and you will have the truth about him.”

“Before a man speaks it is always safe to assume that he is a fool. After he speaks, it is seldom necessary to assume it.”

“Whenever a husband and wife begin to discuss their marriage they are giving evidence at a coroner's inquest.”

“A professor must have a theory as a dog must have fleas.”

“There are men so philosophical that they can see humor in their own toothaches. But there has never lived a man so philosophical that he could see the toothache in his own humor.”

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

“It doesn't take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause.”

“We must be willing to pay a price for freedom.”

“The basic fact about human existence is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore. It is not so much a war as an endless standing in line.”

“Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.”