Author: H.L. Mencken Page 5

Man is a beautiful machine that works very badly.

(1880 – 1956) journalist, essayist, editor & satirist

Henry James would have been vastly improved as a novelist by a few whiffs of the Chicago stockyard.

(1880 – 1956) journalist, essayist, editor & satirist

Wife: A former sweetheart.

(1880 – 1956) journalist, essayist, editor & satirist

A man always blames the woman who fooled him, in the same way he blames the door he walks into in the dark.

(1880 – 1956) journalist, essayist, editor & satirist

Happiness is the China shop; love is the bull.

(1880 – 1956) journalist, essayist, editor & satirist

No married man is genuinely happy if he has to drink worse whisky than he used to drink when he was single.

(1880 – 1956) journalist, essayist, editor & satirist

A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.

(1880 – 1956) journalist, essayist, editor & satirist

The difference between a moral man and a man of honor is that the latter regrets a discreditable act, even when it has worked and he has not been caught.

(1880 – 1956) journalist, essayist, editor & satirist