Aphorism of the Day

To get the Aphorism of the Day straight to your inbox, just go to your settings page and pick the subscription option you want.

If you prefer, you can instead follow Aphorisms Galore! on Twitter.

Follow Aphorisms Galore! Get the Aphorism of the Day on Twitter.

Henry Louis Mencken

b. 1880; d. 1956  ·  12 aphorisms  ·  no comments

Aphorisms Attributed to This Aphorist

1–12 (12)  ·  Submit an Aphorism  ·  Post a Comment

Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (57 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.

[aphorist] Henry Louis Mencken, in [category] Success and Failure

Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (64 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997  · 

Unquestionably, there is progress. The average American now pays out twice as much in taxes as he formerly got in wages.

[aphorist] Henry Louis Mencken, in [category] Law and Politics

Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (57 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

A home is not a mere transient shelter: its essence lies in the personalities of the people who live in it.

[aphorist] Henry Louis Mencken, in [category] Happiness and Misery

Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (79 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Any man who afflicts the human race with ideas must be prepared to see them misunderstood.

[aphorist] Henry Louis Mencken, in [category] Wisdom and Ignorance

Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (149 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Bachelors know more about women than married men do. If they didn't, they'd be married too.

[aphorist] Henry Louis Mencken, in [category] Men and Women

Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (56 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

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

[aphorist] Henry Louis Mencken, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (66 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Criticism is prejudice made plausible.

[aphorist] Henry Louis Mencken, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (42 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Demagogue: One who preaches a doctrine he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots.

[aphorist] Henry Louis Mencken, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (64 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard.

[aphorist] Henry Louis Mencken, in [category] Law and Politics

Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (54 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

Love: The delusion that one woman differs from another.

[aphorist] Henry Louis Mencken, in [category] Love and Hate

Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (78 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

The cynics are right nine times out of ten.

[aphorist] Henry Louis Mencken, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism

Comment#  ·  **-- Fair (42 ratings)  ·  submitted 1997

There's always an easy solution to every human problem -- neat, plausible, and wrong.

[aphorist] Henry Louis Mencken, in [category] Altruism and Cynicism and [category] Science and Religion

1–12 (12)  ·  Submit an Aphorism  ·  Post a Comment