There are two kinds of Europeans: The smart ones, and those who stayed behind.
Interpretation
The quote suggests that those who actively seek new experiences and challenges are smarter than those who do not.
H. L. Mencken's quote implies a distinction between two types of Europeans: those who embrace change and take risks by venturing into the unknown, demonstrating intelligence and curiosity, and those who remain complacent in their familiar surroundings. This serves as a broader commentary on the value of exploration and adaptability in our lives, highlighting the importance of being proactive in seeking growth opportunities.
In practice
This quote would be perfect for a motivational speech on travel and exploration.
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.
He that blows the coals in quarrels that he has nothing to do with, has no right to complain if the sparks fly in his face. - Ben Franklin
Progress would not have been the rarity it is if the early food had not been the late poison.
Not knowing of the eternal leads to unfortunate errors.
Let experience, the least fallible guide of human opinion, be appealed to for an answer to these inquiries.
Merely to resist evil with evil by hating those who hate us and seeking to destroy them, is actually no resistance at all. It is active and purposeful collaboration in evil that brings the Christian into direct and intimate contact with the same source of evil and hatred which inspires the acts of his enemy. It leads in practice to a denial of Christ and to the service of hatred rather than love.
If what one has to say is not better than silence, then one should keep silent.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.