This site is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Alan William Smolowe who gave birth to the creation of this database.
H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken
In the duel of sex, woman fights from a dreadnought and man from an open raft.
Hate |
H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken
Jealousy is the theory that some other fellow has just as little taste.
Worth |
H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken
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.
Friend |
H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken
The objection to Puritans is not that they try to make us think as they do, but that they try to make us do as they think.
Truth |
H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken
The only obligation I recognize in this world is my duty to my immediate family
Will |
There are good men and wicked. The former should be made use of and the latter punished, without attempting to understand why the ones are good and the others wicked.
H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken
Liar: (a) One who pretends to be very good; (b) One who pretends to be very bad.
If a strong government finds that it can, with impunity, destroy a weak people, then the hour has struck for that weak people to appeal to the League of Nations to give its judgment in all freedom. God and history will remember your judgment.
The United Nations continues to sense as the forum where nations whose interests clash may lay their cases before world opinion. It still provides the essential escape valve without which the slow build-up of pressures would have long since resulted in catastrophic explosion.
Day |
H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken
The worst man hesitates when choosing a mother for his children. And hesitating, he is lost.
The Charter of the United Nations expresses the noblest aspirations of man: abjugation of force in the settlement of disputes between states; the assurance of human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion; the safeguarding of international peace and security. But these, too, as were the phrases of the Covenant, are only words; their value depends wholly on our will to observe and honour them and give them content and meaning. The preservation of peace and the guaranteeing of man's basic freedoms and rights require courage and eternal vigilance: courage to speak and act ? and if necessary, to suffer and die ? for truth and justice; eternal vigilance, that the least transgression of international morality shall not go undetected and unremedied. These lessons must be learned anew by each succeeding generation, and that generation is fortunate indeed which learns from other than its own bitter experience. This Organization and each of its members bear a crushing and awesome responsibility: to absorb the wisdom of history and to apply it to the problems of the present, in order that future generations may be born, and live, and die, in peace.
H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken
Philosophy, as the modern world knows it, is only intellectual club-swinging.
Good |
Twenty-seven years ago, as Emperor of Ethiopia, I mounted the rostrum in Geneva, Switzerland, to address the League of Nations and to appeal for relief from the destruction which had been unleashed against my defenseless nation, by the Fascist invader.
There is always something moving, brewing. There are ambitious people everywhere. Wicked people. The only thing to do is to deal with them with courage and decision. One must beware of uncertainty, weakness or conflicting emotions - they lead to defeat.
Friend |
H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken
Lawyer: one who protects us against robbery by taking away the temptation.
Men |
All well-ordered and modern states can only base themselves upon Courts of Justice and Conduct of Laws which are just, correct and geared towards the protection of the rights of individuals. Justice is a product of education.
H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken
The older I get the more I am convinced that, if I am ever to do anything worth a damn, it must be done entirely alone. Moreover, I am more comfortable that way.
And if, fortunately, his best turns out not to be good enough, the reason is that the trial is presided over by someone who serves Justice as faithfully as Mr. Hausner serves the State of Israel. Justice demands that the accused be prosecuted, defended and judged, and that all the other questions of seemingly greater import - of ?How could it happen?,? of ?Why the Jews?? and ?Why the Germans?,? of ?What was the role of other nations?? and ?What was the extent of co-responsibilities on the side of the allies?,? of ?How could the Jews of their own leaders cooperate in their own destruction?? and ?Why did they go to their death like lambs to the slaughter?? - be left in abeyance.
Loving life is easy when you are abroad. Where no one knows you and you hold your life in your hands all alone, you are more master of yourself than at any other time
H. L. Mencken, fully Henry Louis Mencken
The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is na‹ve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.