Men are the only animals that devote themselves, day in and day out, to making one another unhappy. It is an art like any other. Its virtuosi are called altruists.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that humans uniquely invest effort into causing unhappiness in others, which is seen as a learned art form.
H.L. Mencken critiques human behavior by indicating that unlike other animals, humans actively engage in making others unhappy. This intricate dynamic, which he likens to an art form, raises questions about the nature of altruism and the paradox of human relationships—where an individual may claim to act selflessly while simultaneously contributing to the unhappiness of others.
In practice
In a discussion about human relationships, one might quote Mencken to illustrate the paradox of altruism.
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.
War and drink are the two things man is never too poor to buy.
All religions lead to the same God, and all deserve the same respect. Anyone who chooses a religion is also choosing a collective way for worshipping and sharing the mysteries. Nevertheless, that person is the only one responsible for his or her actions along the way and has no right to shift responsibility for any personal decisions on to that religion.
When an objection cannot be made formidable, there is some policy in trying to make it frightful; and to substitute the yell and the war-whoop, in the place of reason, argument and good order.
I was amazed as people must be who are seized and kidnapped, and who realize that in the strange world of their captors they have a value absolutely unconnected with anything they know about themselves.
I am aware of the damp souls of housemaids Sprouting despondently at area gates.
Being an occupier is not good for anybody's global standing. It is a catalyst for terrorist recruitment.
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