H. L. Mencken Quotes About Life
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The basic fact about human existence is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore. It is not so much a war as an endless standing in line.
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Whenever "A" attempts by law to impose his moral standards upon "B," "A" is most likely a scoundrel.
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I believe that all government is evil, and that trying to improve it is largely a waste of time.
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Life is a dead-end street.
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Everyman is thoroughly happy twice in his life, just after he has met his first love, and just after he has left his last one.
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Watching two women kiss is like watching two prizefighters shake hands.
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The more a man dreams, the less he believes.
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How little it takes to make life unbearable: a pebble in the shoe, a cockroach in the spaghetti, a woman's laugh.
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You come into the world with nothing, and the purpose of your life is to make something out of nothing.
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It is more blessed to give than receive; for example, wedding presents.
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Life is a constant oscillation between the sharp horns of dilemmas.
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It is hard to believe that a man is telling the truth when you know that you would lie if you were in his place.
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The average man gets his living by such depressing devices that boredom becomes a sort of natural state to him.
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When I mount the scaffold at last these will be my farewell words to the sheriff: Say what you will against me when I am gone, but don't forget to add, in common justice, that I was never converted to anything.
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The most valuable of all human possessions, next to a superior and disdainful air, is the reputation of being well-to-do.
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You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth.
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An idealist is one who, on noticing that roses smell better than a cabbage, concludes that it will also make better soup.
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Conscience is the inner voice that warns us that someone might be looking.
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I go on working for the same reason that a hen goes on laying eggs. There is in every living creature an obscure but powerful impulse to active functioning. Life demands to be lived. Inaction, save as a measure of recuperation between bursts of activity, is painful and dangerous to the healthy organism- in fact, it is almost impossible. Only the dying can be really idle.
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Lying is not only excusable; it is not only innocent; it is, above all, necessary and unavoidable. Without the ameliorations that it offers, life would become a mere syllogism and hence too metallic to be borne.
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