Henry Louis Mencken was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on the social scene, literature, music, prominent politicians, and contemporary movements. His satirical reporting on the Scopes Trial, which he dubbed the “Monkey Trial,” also gained him attention.
As a scholar, Mencken is known for The American Language, a multi-volume study of how the English language is spoken in the United States. As an admirer of the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, he was an outspoken opponent of organized religion, theism, populism, and representative democracy, the last of which he viewed as a system in which inferior men dominated their superiors. Mencken was a supporter of scientific progress and was critical of osteopathy and chiropractic. He was also an open critic of economics.
Mencken opposed the American entry into both World War I and World War II. Some of the terminology in his private diary entries has been described by some researchers as racist and anti-Semitic, although this characterization has been disputed. His attitude to African-Americans reflected the conservative paternalism of his era and “the kind of anti-Semitism that appears in Mencken’s private diary may be found elsewhere: for example, in the early letters of Eleanor Roosevelt and Adlai Stevenson. He seemed to show a genuine enthusiasm for militarism but never in its American form. “War is a good thing,” he once wrote,
“Because it is honest, it admits the central fact of human nature…. A nation too long at peace becomes a sort of gigantic old maid.”
(Via Wikipedia)
Following are a few of his great wise quotes:
On Love:
On Life:
An enchanted life has many moments when the heart is overwhelmed with beauty and the imagination is electrified by some haunting quality in the world or by a spirit or voice speaking from deep within a thing, a place, or a person. Enchantment may be.
On Death:
A fool who, after plain warning, persists in dosing himself with dangerous drugs should be free to do so, for his death is a benefit to the race in general.
On God:
The major contribution of Protestant thought to the knowledge of mankind is its massive proof that God is a bore.
On Religion:
Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration – courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth.
On Christianity:
The trouble with Communism is the Communists, just as the trouble with Christianity is the Christians.
Other Quotes:
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
Democracy is also a form of worship. It is the worship of Jackals by Jackasses.