H. L. Mencken

Wealth – any income that is at least one hundred dollars more a year than the income of one’s wife’s sister’s husband.

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.

All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it.

It is bad luck to be superstitious.

A man’s ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeeded be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.

A problem is a chance for you to do your best.

Many unkind people have done kind things. Doing acts of kindness is not the same as occupying kindness, of being kindness.

When you embark for strange places don’t leave any of yourself safely at the shore… Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory.

How beautiful the world was when one looked at it without searching, just looked, simply and innocently.

The difference between you and the person you envy, is that you settle for less.

Every lie is a poison; there are no harmless lies. Only the truth is safe. Only the truth gives me consolation – it is the one unbreakable diamond.

To avoid criticism do nothing, say nothing, be nothing.

Much depends on people knowing what opportunity means; it doesn’t mean a silver platter, it oftener means a spade. Self-help means something sterner than ‘help yourself’–reach over and take it.

My view is, first you get them to laugh, then you get them to listen. So I’m always game for a good joke, and I’m not so formal in this role. There’s very little that we can’t do that people wouldn’t appreciate.

We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones.

Since when is “public safety” the root password to the Constitution?

You are an aperture through which the universe is looking at and exploring itself.

We live in an era of tremendous facts. And the facts are facts. They are also unpleasant facts, which does not decrease their factual percentage one bit. Our job is to understand them, to recognize their presence, to learn if we can what they signify and not to fall into the error of minimizing facts because they have a bitter flavor.