“The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom.”

—  H.L. Mencken

Source: 1920s, Prejudices, Third Series (1922), Ch. 3

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 29, 2022. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The older I grow the more I distrust the familiar doctrine that age brings wisdom." by H.L. Mencken?
H.L. Mencken photo
H.L. Mencken 281
American journalist and writer 1880–1956

Related quotes

H.L. Mencken photo
Frank W. Abagnale photo

“We all grow up. Hopefully, we get wiser. Age brings wisdom, and fatherhood changes one's life completely.”

Frank W. Abagnale (1948) American security consultant, former confidence trickster, check forger, impostor, and escape artist
Estelle Getty photo

“Age does not bring you wisdom, age brings you wrinkles.”

Estelle Getty (1923–2008) actress

Estelle Getty, ‘Golden Girls’ Matriarch, Dies at 84, New York Times, July 23, 2008

John Banville photo

“To a fool time brings only age not wisdom.”

Louis L'Amour (1908–1988) Novelist, short story writer
Estelle Getty photo
Dwight D. Eisenhower photo
Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. photo

“Old age is always fifteen years older than I am.”

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (1841–1935) United States Supreme Court justice

Actually by financier Bernard Baruch.
Misattributed

George Sand photo
Jawaharlal Nehru photo

“Religion is not familiar ground for me, and as I have grown older, I have definitely drifted away from it. I have something else in its place, something older than just intellect and reason, which gives me strength and hope.”

Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) Indian lawyer, statesman, and writer, first Prime Minister of India

Letter to Mahatma Gandhi (1933), as quoted in "Nehru's Faith" by Sunil Khilnani, in The New Republic (24 May 2004), p. 27 http://web.archive.org/web/20041022115314/http://www.sais-jhu.edu/pubaffairs/SAISarticles04/Khilnani_NR_052404.pdf
Context: Religion is not familiar ground for me, and as I have grown older, I have definitely drifted away from it. I have something else in its place, something older than just intellect and reason, which gives me strength and hope. Apart from this indefinable and indefinite urge, which may have just a tinge of religion in it and yet is wholly different from it, I have grown entirely to rely on the workings of the mind. Perhaps they are weak supports to rely upon, but, search as I will, I can see no better ones.

Related topics