Mencken on Cynicism

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

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H. L. Mencken cynicism

"Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice." -- H. L. Mencken

"Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence." -- H.L. Mencken, via email from Carla

Discipline | "Say what you will about the Ten Commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them." -- H. L. Mencken

Conscience | "Conscience: the inner voice which warns us that someone may be looking." -- H.L. Mencken

"The objection of the scandalmonger is not that he tells of racy doings, but that he pretends to be indignant about them." -- H. L. Mencken, via Bene Diction Blogs On!

"Whenever I write anything that sets up controversy its meaning is distorted almost instantly. Even the editorial writers of newspapers seem to be unable to understand the plainest sentence." -- H.L. Mencken (from Russ Kick's website)

Writing | "There are no dull subjects.
There are only dull writers." -- H. L. Mencken

"The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who loves 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." -- H.L. Mencken (from Russ Kick's website)

"Puritanism: the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." -- H. L. Mencken