H. L. Mencken Quotes

Sloth, not ill-will, makes me unjust.

Nothing is so intolerable to man as being fully at rest, without a passion, without business, without entertainment, without care.

The worst thing we can do is to do nothing.

He brings to the fierce struggle of politics the tepid enthusiasm of a lazy summer afternoon at a crickett match.

Of all the cankers of human happiness, none corrodes with so silent, yet so baneful a tooth as indolence.

He's gone around the country stirring up apathy.

For all the evils in the world, I think apathy is one of the most dangerous.

Most people sleep themselves stupid.

Women all want to be ladies, which is simply to have nothing to do, but listlessly to go they scarcely care where, for they cannot tell what.

The cafes bore me; going downstairs is a nuisance. Painting and sleeping - that's all there is.

I'm just a lazy boy. I'd rather sit in my recliner and act.

Indifference may not wreck a man's life at any one turn, but it will destroy him with a kind of dry-rot in the long run.

The easiest thing to do in the world is pull the covers up over your head and go back to sleep.

I ain't running for office. I ain't running for nothing.

I'm a lazy creature when I'm not acting.

I think the worst thing you can do about a situation is nothing.

The House of Peers, throughout the war Did nothing in particular And did it very well.

I don't want to be the guy who sits on a front porch with a mint julep in his hand and rocks his life away.

I don't really care about capitalizing on momentum.

I am one of those who will not do anything and just sit at home if I don't like the work coming my way.

Doing anything when you're bored is very very boring. Anyway, doing nothing is the point of being bored. The pleasure of being bored ismooning about and doing nothing.

I do not care for anything. I do not care to ride, for the exercise is too violent. I do not care to walk, walking is too strenuous. I do not care to lie down, for I should either have to remain lying, and I do not care to do that, or I should have to get up again, and I do not care to do that either. Summa summarum: I do not care at all.

Seven national crimes: 1. I don't think. 2. I don't know. 3. I don't care. 4. I am too busy. 5. I leave well enough alone. 6. I have no time to read and find out. 7. I am not interested.

The biggest sin is sitting on your ass.

I was faced more with apathy than opposition.