The formula of the argument is simple and familiar: to dispose of a problem all that is necessary is to deny that it exists.
Interpretation
Avoiding a problem by ignoring its existence does not solve it.
H. L. Mencken highlights a common human tendency to deny problems rather than confront them head-on. This quote serves as a reminder that simply ignoring an issue does not make it disappear; rather, it often exacerbates the situation and leads to more significant consequences.
In practice
In a discussion about mental health, this quote can emphasize the importance of acknowledging issues rather than ignoring them.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
It is a useless life that is not consecrated to a great ideal. It is like a stone wasted on the field without becoming a part of any edifice.
We are all regionalists in our origins, however 'universal' our themes and characters, and without our cherished hometowns and childhood landscapes to nourish us, we would be like plants set in shallow soil. Our souls must take root - almost literally.
Since my house burned down I now own a better view of the rising moon.
Order and reason, beauty and benevolence, are characteristics and conceptions which we find solely associated with the mind of man.
The way of the superior man may be compared to what takes place in traveling, when to go to a distance we must first traverse the space that is near, and in ascending a height, when we must begin from the lower ground.
As long as habit and routine dictate the pattern of living, new dimensions of the soul will not emerge.
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