For men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt. The more stupid the man, … - H. L. Mencken

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For men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt. The more stupid the man, the larger his stock of adamantine assurances, the heavier his load of faith.

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About H. L. Mencken

Henry Louis Mencken (12 September 1880 – 29 January 1956), known as H. L. Mencken, was a twentieth-century journalist, satirist, social critic, cynic, and freethinker, known as the "Sage of Baltimore" and the "American Nietzsche". He is often regarded as one of the most influential American writers of the early 20th century.

Also Known As

Alternative Names: Henry Louis Mencken
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Men become civilized, not in proportion to their willingness to believe, but in proportion to their readiness to doubt.

Additional quotes by H. L. Mencken

They were common folk, and their commonness radiated from them like heat from a stove….The wheelbarrow handle, it was plain, was more familiar to the men in that long line than the golf-stick, and the washtub had engaged the women far oftener than the lipstick.
But what of it? The klan is not a club for snobs, it is a device for organizing inferiorities into a mystical superiority.

A national political campaign is better than the best circus ever heard of, with a mass baptism and a couple of hangings thrown in.

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