Quote Of The Day #26

Books, quotes, Reflections, Short Story 2 Minutes

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I think these quotes should be called anti-quotes rather than quotes since they sound downright ridiculous. I like H. L. Mencken a lot but still whenever the topics of relationship and women come up, he talks like a mad man–a very entertaining mad man but still a mad man. Or probably he is not really mad–what he says is not a true reflection of his thoughts, but rather he says crazy things deliberately just to generate laughs. That’s a little too desperate.

Just imagine people like Mencken or Nietzsche, who assume the position of power and who make decisions for thousands or tens of thousands of people. How much damage this kind of people would do to the world?

In the relations between the sexes all beauty is founded upon romance, all romance is founded upon mystery, and all mystery is founded upon ignorance, or, failing that, upon the deliberate denial of the known truth. To be in love is merely to be in a state of perceptual anesthesia.

“Mencken Chrestomathy” by H.L. Mencken

Who are happy in marriage? Those with so little imagination that they cannot picture a better state, and those so shrewd that they prefer quiet slavery to hopeless rebellion.

“Mencken Chrestomathy” by H.L. Mencken

“Normally, women’s weakness makes masculine protection necessary to their existence and to the exercise of their overpowering maternal instinct, and so their whole effort is to obtain this protection in the easiest way possible. The net result is that feminine morality is a morality of opportunism and imminent expediency, and that the normal woman has no respect for, and scarcely any conception of abstract truth.”

Chapter IX “Women And Marriage” in “The Philosophy Of Friedrich Nietzsche” By H. L. Mencken

“But the man who cannot do this, who experiences no normal reaction in the direction of guardedness and caution and reason, must either abandon himself utterly as a helpless slave to woman’s instinct of race-preservation, and so become a bestial voluptuary, or avoid temptation altogether and so become a celibate.”

Chapter IX “Women And Marriage” in “The Philosophy Of Friedrich Nietzsche” By H. L. Mencken

He (Friedrich Nietzsche) admitted the great and noble part that woman had to play in the world-drama, but he saw clearly that her methods were essentially deceptive, insincere and pernicious, and so he held that she should be confined to her proper role and that any effort she made to take a hand in other matters should be regarded with suspicion, and when necessary, violently opposed. Thus Nietzsche detested the idea of women’s suffrage almost as much as he detested the idea of chivalry. The participation of women in large affairs, he argued, could lead to but one result: the contamination of the masculine ideals of justice, honor and truth by the feminine ideals of dissimulation, equivocation and intrigue. In women, he believed, there was an entire absence of that instinctive liking for a square deal and a fair fight which one finds in all men—even the worst.

Chapter IX “Women And Marriage” in “The Philosophy Of Friedrich Nietzsche” By H. L. Mencken

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41 thoughts on “Quote Of The Day #26”

  2. Very interesting anti-quotes. I have to agree to an extent with Mencken’s quote about marriage though lol. I learnt about Nietzsche in one of my Philosophy courses and read some of his writing. I’m not a fan at all.

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    1. LOL. Mencken is exaggerating, but since he is also so funny, I have to forgive him. Nietzsche is obviously mad and I don’t agree with him in general. I especially dislike his remarks on women and on minority.

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  4. Thanks for another great post. Mencken seems to have held dubious views, however Nietzsche is very misunderstood. He was more of an outsider than a great leader, while his reputation has been almost irremediably destroyed by being appropriated by the Nazis. I think you’d appreciate him – I believe you like Existentialism. There is much more to say and discuss, but I don’t want to clog your blog ! Stay safe and healthy 🙂

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    1. Thank you for your visit. I have to say whenever it involves women or minority, Nietzsche is very bad. No wonder Nazis admires him. I can see the reason behind their twisted admiration and sadistic thoughts. However I have to say he does have some refreshing idea about education and independent thinking. I mean two hundred years ago, it could have been quite revolutionary.

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      1. Exactly – we have to remember the epoch in which he lived; women were enfranchised in New Zealand in 1893, by which time Nietzsche had stopped writing.
        Importantly, Nietzsche was NOT anti-semitic – he thought such beliefs were idiotic. However, I do not support his comments on women.
        The Ubermensch I see as making oneself better, rising above the mediocrity. In life, choose to watch a documentary instead of a ‘reality’ show, learn a new skill, watch an art film instead of Fast & Furious etc.
        Here’s an article from the London Review of Books – I think you’ll find it interesting 🙂

        https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v25/n18/jenny-diski/it-wasn-t-him-it-was-her

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    1. Hahaha. That’s so true. I often read motivational quotes online, but I just think anti-quotes are as important as quotes because they tell people how not to believe what other people say. Believe in one’s own observation and feelings.

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  12. Mencken sounds like an unfunny version of Groucho Marx. Marx also had a dim view on marriage, but he made people laugh for it.

    Here are a few of my favorite ones:

    “Marriage is the chief cause of divorce.”
    “Will you marry me? Do you have any money? Answer the second question first.”
    “Marriage is a wonderful institution, but who wants to live in an institution?”

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