The Mencken Society

Promoting the living works of Henry Louis Mencken, the "Sage of Baltimore"

  • A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn’t know.
  • Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends.
  • Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
  • Every man is his own hell.
  • Historian – An unsuccessful novelist.
  • Misogynist – A man who hates women as much as women hate one another.
  • Optimist – The sort of man who marries his sister’s best friend.
  • Puritanism – The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy. 
  • The kind of man who demands that government enforce his ideas is always the kind whose ideas are idiotic.
  • The life of man in this world is like the life of a fly in a room filled with 100 boys, each armed with a fly-swatter.
  • The New Deal began, like the Salvation Army, by promising to save humanity.  It ended, again like the Salvation Army began, by running flop-houses and disturbing the peace.
  • Wealth – Any income that is at least $100 more a year than the income of one’s wife’s sister’s husband.

Promoting the living works of Henry Louis Mencken, the "Sage of Baltimore"

  • Der Tag 2024

    September 14, 2024 (Saturday) Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathederal St 10:30 AM Annual Meeting of The Mencken Society. Speakers: Fred Hobson by way of remote conferencing and a discussion between John Barr, professor of history at Lone Star College, and Darryl Hart. 2:00 PM The 2024 Mencken Memorial Lecture will be presented by Thomas…

  • Mencken Day 2021

    Mencken Day 2021 will be held on September 11, 2021 but all events will be virtual. More information is at the Enoch Pratt Library’s at website. The day’s program: 10:30 a.m., Mencken Society Annual Meeting (Zoom only). 2 p.m., The 2021 Mencken Memorial Lecture (Zoom and Facebook Live). “The 2021 Mencken Memorial Lecture will be…

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  • Mencken Day 2020 At the Pratt Library is Cancelled

    Due to the continuing Corona Panic all Pratt Library buildings will remain closed and all those Mencken Day events usually held at the library are cancelled.

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  • 15th Mencken Graveside Memorial (2020-01-26 14:00)

    The Mencken Graveside Memorial will once again be conducted by Oleg Panczenko at the Mencken gravesite at Loudon Park Cemetery, 3620 Wilkens Ave, Baltimore, MD. The brief memorial will be held Sunday, January 26, 2020 at 2:00 PM. Attendees are invited to retire to Spirits West, 2601 Wilkens Ave. after the memorial. Loudon Park Cemetery:…

  • Mencken House Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony

    On November 24th 2019 an invitation-only ribbon-cutting ceremony was conducted at the Mencken House. Dignitaries and those who over the years gave any time and effort to the cause assembled outside the House. Brigitte Fessenden delivered the opening remarks with following brief remarks by Ethan P. Cohen, Senior Project Coordinator, City of Baltimore; Johns Hopkins,…

  • Der Tag 2019

    Mencken Day 2019 will be observed September 21, 2019. Please note the date. Breaking with long-standing scheduling, Mencken Day 2019 will be observed a week later than would be expected as the Pratt Library is celebrating the opening of its renovated facilities on September 14 with a ribbon-cutting and an “open house block party.” When:…

© The Mencken Society 2022