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H.L. Mencken

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One of the most irrational of all the conventions of modern society is the one to the effect that religious opinions should be respected. …[This] convention protects them, and so they proceed with their blather unwhipped and almost unmolested, to the great damage of common sense and common decency. that they should have this immunity is an outrage. There is nothing in religious ideas, as a class, to lift them above other ideas. On the contrary, they are always dubious and often quite silly. Nor is there any visible intellectual dignity in theologians. Few of them know anything that is worth knowing, and not many of them are even honest.
From H.L. Mencken on Religion
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The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians.
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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.
From Minority Report
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The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
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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.
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The essence of science is that it is always willing to abandon a given idea for a better one; the essence of theology is that it holds its truths to be eternal and immutable.
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Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched 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. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.
From Notes on Democracy
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In the present case it is a little inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible to any public office of trust or profit in the Republic. But I do not repine, for I am a subject of it only by force of arms.
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An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it makes a better soup.
From A Book of Burlesques
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It is the natural tendency of the ignorant to believe what is not true. In order to overcome that tendency it is not sufficient to exhibit the true; it is also necessary to expose and denounce the false. To admit that the false has any standing in court, that it ought to be handled gently because millions of morons cherish it and thousands of quacks make their livings propagating it—to admit this, as the more fatuous of the reconcilers of science and religion inevitably do, is to abandon a just cause to its enemies, cravenly and without excuse.
From American Mercury
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Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.
From Prejudices: Third Series
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Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
From A Mencken Chrestomathy
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Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.
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One of the most irrational of all the conventions of modern society is the one to the effect that religious opinions should be respected. …[This] convention protects them, and so they proceed with their blather unwhipped and almost unmolested, to the great damage of common sense and common decency. that they should have this immunity is an outrage. There is nothing in religious ideas, as a class, to lift them above other ideas. On the contrary, they are always dubious and often quite silly. Nor is there any visible intellectual dignity in theologians. Few of them know anything that is worth knowing, and not many of them are even honest.
From H.L. Mencken on Religion
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The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
From Minority Report
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The essence of science is that it is always willing to abandon a given idea for a better one; the essence of theology is that it holds its truths to be eternal and immutable.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched 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. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.
From Notes on Democracy
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In the present case it is a little inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible to any public office of trust or profit in the Republic. But I do not repine, for I am a subject of it only by force of arms.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it makes a better soup.
From A Book of Burlesques
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
It is the natural tendency of the ignorant to believe what is not true. In order to overcome that tendency it is not sufficient to exhibit the true; it is also necessary to expose and denounce the false. To admit that the false has any standing in court, that it ought to be handled gently because millions of morons cherish it and thousands of quacks make their livings propagating it—to admit this, as the more fatuous of the reconcilers of science and religion inevitably do, is to abandon a just cause to its enemies, cravenly and without excuse.
From American Mercury
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Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.
From Prejudices: Third Series
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
From A Mencken Chrestomathy
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Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
One of the most irrational of all the conventions of modern society is the one to the effect that religious opinions should be respected. …[This] convention protects them, and so they proceed with their blather unwhipped and almost unmolested, to the great damage of common sense and common decency. that they should have this immunity is an outrage. There is nothing in religious ideas, as a class, to lift them above other ideas. On the contrary, they are always dubious and often quite silly. Nor is there any visible intellectual dignity in theologians. Few of them know anything that is worth knowing, and not many of them are even honest.
From H.L. Mencken on Religion
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The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
From Minority Report
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The older I grow, the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
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.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
The essence of science is that it is always willing to abandon a given idea for a better one; the essence of theology is that it holds its truths to be eternal and immutable.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have researched 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. Nor has anyone ever lost public office thereby.
From Notes on Democracy
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In the present case it is a little inaccurate to say I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible to any public office of trust or profit in the Republic. But I do not repine, for I am a subject of it only by force of arms.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
An idealist is one who, on noticing that a rose smells better than a cabbage, concludes that it makes a better soup.
From A Book of Burlesques
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
It is the natural tendency of the ignorant to believe what is not true. In order to overcome that tendency it is not sufficient to exhibit the true; it is also necessary to expose and denounce the false. To admit that the false has any standing in court, that it ought to be handled gently because millions of morons cherish it and thousands of quacks make their livings propagating it—to admit this, as the more fatuous of the reconcilers of science and religion inevitably do, is to abandon a just cause to its enemies, cravenly and without excuse.
From American Mercury
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Faith may be defined briefly as an illogical belief in the occurrence of the improbable.
From Prejudices: Third Series
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote
Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.
From A Mencken Chrestomathy
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Theology is the effort to explain the unknowable in terms of the not worth knowing.
Avg Rating: --Rate This Quote