H. L. Mencken Quotes

Man is a beautiful machine that works very badly.

Because we're human beings, we're not always going to be perfect.

Filmmakers tell stories to explore human nature, which is always a flawed thing.

I don't believe that human beings can achieve ultimate enlightenment, because humans have flaws.

Out of timber so crooked as that from which man is made nothing entirely straight can be carved.

Aren't all people flawed?

I'm not interested in perfection. The universe is perfect, and there are some works of art that we see as perfect, but human beings aren't perfect.

Sometimes you think that you need to be perfect, that you cannot make mistakes ... realize you are a human being - like everyone else capable of reaching great potential but not capable of being perfect.

Man is a robot with defects.

Aus so krummen Holze, als woraus der Mensch gemacht ist, kann nichts ganz Gerades gezimmert werden. Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing can ever be made.

For God's sake stop making people in your image. Harry was real. He wasn't just your hero and my lover. He was Harry. He was in a racket. He did bad things. What about it? He was the man we knew.

All of us are imperfect human beings living in an imperfect world.

I think seeking perfection in human affairs is a perfect way to destroy them.

Perfect can't possibly be the goal, we're left with generous, important and human instead.

We're all damaged in our own way. Nobody's perfect. I think we're all somewhat screwy. Every single one of us.

Nobody's perfect. We're all just one step up from the beasts and one step down from the angels.

Even the best of us are at least part-time bastards.

We all make mistakes, some bigger than others, but none of us is perfect.

Man is not interesting without some imperfection

Never forget that a man is made great and perfect as much by his faults as by his virtues. So we must not seek to rob a nation of its character, even if it could be proved that the character was all faults.

I am unwilling to be wholly good—and please don't regard me as wholly evil!

People are human. There's such a premium today on being perfect. That's just not the way people are.

The perfect human being is uninteresting-the Buddha who leaves the world, you know. It is the imperfections of life that are lovable.

I think people are screw-ups, and even our greatest heroes are deeply flawed human beings. People make bad decisions for all the wrong reasons, and then somehow they'll do the right thing, and then somehow they'll save somebody, or they'll be compassionate. Horrible people can do wonderful things, and wonderful people can do horrible things.

Then again, Solomon was human. And that meant he was flawed (Go on, take a look at yourself in the mirror. A good long look, if you can bear it. See? Flawed's putting it mildly, isn't it?)