Immorality: the morality of those who are having a better time.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that what is considered immoral is often defined by those who are not enjoying life to the fullest.
H. L. Mencken's quote explores the idea that societal norms of morality are often dictated by those who are less adventurous or less willing to embrace life's pleasures. It implies that those who are having a better time may participate in actions deemed immoral simply because they seek enjoyment and fulfillment outside of conventional boundaries. This positions the concept of morality as subjective and influenced by individual experiences and happiness.
In practice
A discussion on ethical dilemmas in a philosophical lecture.
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.
We are the echo of the future.
In explaining any puzzling Washington phenomenon, always choose stupidity over conspiracy, incompetence over cunning. Anything else gives them too much credit.
The vigor of our spiritual life will be in exact proportion to the place held by the Bible in our life and thoughts.
Consequently, heretics and schismatics, separated from the unity of this Body, are able to receive the same Sacrament, but with no benefit to themselves; indeed, more to their own harm, in that they are judged the more severely rather than being liberated.
When you have increasing power of religious groups, oppression of women increases. Women are oppressed in all religions.
To insult someone we call him 'bestial. For deliberate cruelty and nature, 'human' might be the greater insult.
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