H. L. Mencken
Brief Bio: American journalist, essayist, satirist, cultural critic, and scholar of American English
Lived: 1880-1956
For further info: en.wikipedia.org
Quotes:
“Every Third American”
We are, in fact, a nation of evangelists; every third American devotes himself to improving and lifting up his fellow citizens, usually by force; the messianic delusion is our national disease.
1919 from the book Prejudices: First Series
“Easy Solutions”
There is always an easy solution to every human problem – neat, plausible and wrong.
1920 from Prejudices: Second Series
“We Must Respect the Other Fellow's Religion”
We must respect the other fellow’s religion, but only in the sense and to the extent that we respect his theory that his wife is beautiful and his children smart.
1956 from the book Minority Report : H.L. Mencken”s Notebooks