The theory seems to be that as long as a man is a failure he is one of God's children, but that as soon as he succeeds he is taken over by the Devil.
Interpretation
Success often brings moral scrutiny, contrasting perceptions of failure and achievement.
H. L. Mencken's quote highlights a cynical perspective on success and failure, suggesting that society views those who fail as innocent or endearingly flawed, whereas those who succeed may be seen as morally compromised or less genuine. This reflects an underlying tension in our values concerning ambition, the nature of virtue, and societal expectations.
In practice
Using it in a discussion on the ethics of success in a workplace seminar.
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.
Do not commit spiritual suicide through a passion for discussing metaphysical subtleties.
I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, Than such a Roman.
The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
The universe has become not only conscious and aware of itself but capable in some respects of choosing its path into the future--though all three, the consciousness, the knowledge, and the choice, are dispersed over a vast crowd of beings, acting both individually and collectively.
We must be convinced that abundance is the natural state of the Universe. To experience and accept abundance in our life, we must be convinced that as we conceive and believe, the Universe handles the details.
Compared to the unleashed forces of warfare and of faith, Mount Vesuvius was kinder to the legacy of antiquity.
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