H. L. Mencken Quotes

Words are the counters of wise men, but the money of fools.

Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.

When Demaratus was asked whether he held his tongue because he was a fool or for want of words, he replied, "A fool cannot hold his tongue.

Silence is said to be golden, but the best fools the world has ever produced had nothing to say on the subject

A closed mouth catches no flies.

He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult to make his words good.

Talking and eloquence are not the same: to speak and to speak well are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.

To speak and to speak well, are two things. A fool may talk, but a wise man speaks.

Let thy speech be better than silence, or be silent.

There is a better thing than the great man who is always speaking, and that is the great man who only speaks when he has a great word to say.

For one word a man is often deemed to be wise, and for one word he is often deemed to be foolish. We should be careful indeed what we say.

Have you ever heard the phrase, it is better to keep your mouth closed and have people wonder if you are stupid than open it and remove all doubt? (Hakim al Harbi)

Many wise words are spoken in jest, but they don't compare with the number of stupid words spoken in earnest.

He spoke with more eloquence than wisdom.

It is not fools that I seek to address.

Silence does not always mark wisdom.

Every man is born with the faculty of reason and the faculty of speech, but why should he be able to speak before he has anything to say?

My Son, these maxims make a rule An lump them ay thegither: The Rigid Righteous is a fool, The Rigid Wise anither.

I assure you, an educated fool is more foolish than an uneducated one.

He who does not know how to be silent will not know how to speak.

The older a fool is, the worse he is.

It is a common observation that any fool can get money; but they are not wise that think so.

Well, God give them wisdom that have it; and those that are fools, let them use their talents.

The fool is not the man who merely does foolish things. The fool is the man who does not know enough to cash in on his foolishness.

I will keep where there is wit stirring, and leave the faction of fools.