A cynic is a man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin.
H. L. Mencken
- Life
- 1880-1956
- Occupations
- satirist, literary critic, essayist
Facts: Wikidata (CC0), as of 2026-07-09
A man may be a fool and not know it – but not if he is married.
H. L. Mencken
Creator — A comedian whose audience is afraid to laugh.
H. L. Mencken
Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods.
H. L. Mencken
Explanations exist; they have existed for all times, for there is always an easy solution to every human problem – neat, plausible, and wrong.
H. L. Mencken
Explanations exist; they have existed for all times, for there is always an easy solution to every human problem - neat, plausible, and wrong. 'The Divine Afflatus,' in the New York Evening Mail, November 15, 1917
H. L. Mencken
For every problem, there is a solution that is simple, elegant, and wrong.
H. L. Mencken
It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.
H. L. Mencken
Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.
H. L. Mencken
Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
H. L. Mencken
No man ever quite believes in any other man.
H. L. Mencken
No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.
H. L. Mencken
Thanksgiving Day-A day devoted by persons with inflammatory rheumatism to thanking a loving Father that it is not hydrophobia.
H. L. Mencken
The theory seems to be that as long as a man is a failure he is one of God's children, but that as soon as he succeeds he is taken over by the devil.
H. L. Mencken
Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages.
H. L. Mencken
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 are smart.
H. L. Mencken