It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone - that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows more than any man of, say, the Eighteenth Century, and is far more civilized. This assumption is quite erroneous. . . . The great masses of men, even in this inspired republic, are precisely where the mob was at the dawn of history. They are ignorant, they are dishonest, they are cowardly, they are ignoble. They know little if anything that is worth knowing, and there is not the slightest sign of a natural desire among them to increase their knowledge. β¨ Homo Neanderthalensis Baltimore Sun, The Impossible Mencken, June 29, 1925.
More Author Quotes
- Dachshund: A half-a-dog high and a dog-and-a-half long.
- There is, in fact, nothing about religious opinions that entitles them to any more respect than other opinions get. On the contrary, they tend to be noticeably silly. β¨ H.L. Mencken (2012). Mencken C β¦ βΆ
- Sin is a dangerous toy in the hands of the virtuous. It should be left to the congenitally sinful, who know when to play with it and when to let it alone. β¨ H.L. Mencken (2012). Mencken Chrestomathy, β¦ βΆ
- The average man does not get pleasure out of an idea because he thinks it is true; he thinks it is true because he gets pleasure out of it.
- The whole drift of our law is toward the absolute prohibition of all ideas that diverge in the slightest form from the accepted platitudes, and behind that drift of law there is a far more potent for β¦ βΆ
Most Cited Authors
William Shakespeare2362
Cassandra Clare2086
Ralph Waldo Emerson2017
Paulo Coelho1839
Rajneesh1644
Sherrilyn Kenyon1633
Mark Twain1626
C. S. Lewis1624
Rick Riordan1549
Oscar Wilde1401
Albert Einstein1372
J. K. Rowling1274
Rumi1268
Friedrich Nietzsche1258
John Green1254
Swami Vivekananda1206
Thomas Jefferson1179
Richelle Mead1130
Barack Obama1115
Henry David Thoreau1086
Terry Pratchett1070
Stephen King1024
Mahatma Gandhi1019
Jodi Picoult1016
Neil Gaiman977
Haruki Murakami976
Laozi972
27
The Best Quotes
Most Liked Authors
William Shakespeare46.4k
Cassandra Clare40.9k
Ralph Waldo Emerson38.9k
Paulo Coelho35.9k
Rajneesh32k
Sherrilyn Kenyon31.8k
Mark Twain31.7k
C. S. Lewis31k
Rick Riordan30.4k
Oscar Wilde26.9k
Albert Einstein26.8k
J. K. Rowling24.6k
John Green24.5k
Friedrich Nietzsche24.4k
Rumi24.3k
Swami Vivekananda23.3k
Thomas Jefferson22.7k
Richelle Mead22.2k
Barack Obama21.6k
Terry Pratchett21k
Henry David Thoreau20.6k
Stephen King19.8k
Jodi Picoult19.8k
Mahatma Gandhi19.7k
Neil Gaiman19.2k
Laozi19.1k
Haruki Murakami19k
27