The Public ... demands certainties ... But there are not certainties
Interpretation
The public seeks absolute truths, yet in reality, certainty is elusive.
H. L. Mencken's quote highlights the tension between public expectations for clear and unwavering truths and the complex nature of reality, which often lacks certainty. This reflection on human nature and societal demands suggests that while people desire straightforward answers, the world is filled with ambiguity and uncertainty that cannot be easily resolved.
In practice
In a debate about government policies, this quote could underscore the complexity of decision-making.
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.
How terrible it is to have no cares, no longings. I do not fit. I feel too deeply and want too much. As cages go, it is a gilded one, but I shall not live well in it or any cage for that matter.
Democracy will prevail when men believe the vote of Judas as good as that of Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament God is a person with body parts and passions. The Church of England God has neither body, parts nor passions, and is therefore not a person.
Being a Humanist means trying to behave decently without expectation of rewards or punishment after you are dead.
In my dreams, I never have an age.
The psychedelic issue is a civil rights and civil liberties issue. It is an issue concerned with the most basic of human freedoms: religious practice and the privacy of the individual mind.
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