Probably the worst thing that has happened in America in my time is the decay of confidence in the courts. No one can be sure any more that in a given case they will uphold the plainest mandate of the Constitution. On the contrary, everyone begins to be more or less convinced in advance that they won't. Judges are chosen not because they know the Constitution and are in favor of it, but precisely because they appear to be against it.
H. L. MenckenNo matter how much a woman loved a man, it would still give her a glow to see him commit suicide for her.
H. L. MenckenYou can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.
H. L. MenckenMen become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in their readiness to doubt.
H. L. MenckenThe man who boasts that he habitually tells the truth is simply a man with no respect for it. It is not a thing to be thrown about loosely, like small change; it is something to be cherished and hoarded and disbursed only when absolutely necessary. The smallest atom of truth represents some man's bitter toil and agony; for every ponderable chunk of it there is a brave truth-seeker's grave upon some lonely ash-dump and a soul roasting in Hell.
H. L. MenckenThe only way that a government can provide for jobs for all citizens is by deciding what every man should do.
H. L. MenckenThe seasick passenger on an ocean liner detests the good sailor who stalks past him 265 times a day grandly smoking a large, greasy cigar. In precisely the same way the democrat hates the man who is having a better time in the world. This is the origin of democracy. It is also the origin of Puritanism.
H. L. Mencken