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…

  • The Free Lance 677, September 10, 1913

    The Free Lance, September 10, 1913.

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  • The Free Lance 676, September 9, 1913

    The Free Lance, September 9, 1913.

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  • The Free Lance 675, September 8, 1913

    The Free Lance, September 8, 1913.

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  • Der Tag 2017: Schedule of Events

    Mencken Day 2017 will be celebrated Saturday, September 9, 2017. At France Hall, Maryland Historical Society, 201 West Monument Street: 10:30 AM Annual Meeting of the Mencken Society. Speaker: George W. Liebmann on “Mencken on Church and State.” 2:00 PM The 2017 Mencken Memorial Lecture: “When America Was Great and Baltimore Knew Better,” presented by…

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  • Darryl G. Hart To Be President of The Mencken Society

    Darryl G. Hart, distinguished associate professor of history at Hillsdale College (Hillsdale, MI) will succeed Robert Brugger as President of the Mencken Society. Dr Hart will be installed on September 9, 2017, during the Mencken Day 2017 celebration held at the Maryland Historical Society’s France Hall.

© The Mencken Society 2022