Source: How the Mind Works (1997), p. 560
“Theology — An effort to explain the unknowable by putting it into terms of the not worth knowing.”
1940s–present, A Mencken Chrestomathy (1949)
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H.L. Mencken 281
American journalist and writer 1880–1956Related quotes
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Context: Of course, the worst of all lives is the vicious life; the life of a man who becomes a positive addition to the forces of evil in a community. Next to that and when I am speaking to people who, by birth and training and standing, ought to amount to a great deal, I have a right to say only second to it in criminality comes the life of mere vapid ease, the ignoble life of a man who desires nothing from his years but that they shall be led with the least effort, the least trouble, the greatest amount of physical enjoyment or intellectual enjoyment of a mere dilettante type. The life that is worth living, and the only life that is worth living, is the life of effort, the life of effort to attain what is worth striving for.
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Source: Dynamics Of Theology, Chapter Ten, Method in theology, p. 192
“Only the impossible is worth the effort.”
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The Powerbook (2000)
Leslie Stephen
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The Fortnightly Review, vol. 34 (1880) p. 177
“No culture can be explained in terms of one or more leaders”
Peter Farb
(1929–1980) American academic and writer
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Context: We are in the habit of thinking in terms of great leaders largely because the leaders themselves want it that way. The pharaohs ordered that a record of their accomplishments be carved on stone; medieval nobles subsidized troubadours to sing their praises; today's world leaders have large staffs of public-relations consultants. No culture can be explained in terms of one or more leaders...<!-- p. 93
“The sun rose slowly, as if it wasn't sure it was worth all the effort.”
Source: The Light Fantastic
“Superhuman effort isn't worth a damn unless it achieves results.”
Ernest Shackleton
(1874–1922) Anglo-Irish polar explorer