The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.

—H. L. Mencken in Minority Report

humanity power greed idealism

About H. L. Mencken

Portrait of H. L. Mencken

Henry Louis Mencken (September 12, 1880 – January 29, 1956) was an American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English. He commented widely on literature, music, prominent politicians, and contemporary movements. His satirical reporting on the Scopes trial, which he dubbed the "Monkey Trial", also earned him...

More quotations from H. L. Mencken

Conscience is the inner voice that warns us somebody may be looking.

—H. L. Mencken

conscience voice looking observation

The most common of all follies is to believe passionately in the palpably not true. It is the chief occupation of mankind.

—H. L. Mencken

belief mankind passion

Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.

—H. L. Mencken

fear happiness puritanism

Platitude: an idea (a) that is admitted to be true by everyone, and (b) that is not true.

—H. L. Mencken

truth ideas language culture

Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop.

—H. L. Mencken

More quotations tagged with “idealism”

Just as the water of the streams we see is small in amount compared to that which flows underground, so the idealism which becomes visible is small in amount compared with what men and women bear locked in their hearts.… To unbind what is bound, to bring the underground waters to the surface: mankind is waiting and longing for such as can do that.

—Albert Schweitzer

heart mankind idealism longing water men and women

When they come downstairs from their Ivory Towers, Idealists are very apt to walk straight into the gutter.

—Logan Pearsall Smith

Man is ready to die for an idea, provided that idea is not quite clear to him.

—Paul Eldridge

ideas death idealism

At the boy's level, hero worship gravitates toward the doer of spectacular deeds; on the average adult level, toward the wielder of power; and in the eyes of a more critical judgment, toward idealism and moral qualities.

—Dixon Wecter

power heroism morality worship idealism hero worship

Cynics regarded everybody as equally corrupt… Idealists regarded everybody as equally corrupt, except themselves.

—Robert Anton Wilson

cynicism idealism corruption

History

1 Oct 2014 Added
14 Jul 2015 Edited (details weren’t recorded yet)