The way to deal with superstition is not to be polite to it, but to tackle it with all arms, and so rout it, cripple it, and make it forever infamous and ridiculous.
Interpretation
Superstition should be confronted decisively, not politely ignored.
H. L. Mencken emphasizes the importance of addressing superstition directly and aggressively rather than treating it with politeness or tolerance. He advocates for challenging such unfounded beliefs to diminish their influence and ultimately render them absurd in the eyes of society.
In practice
During a speech on critical thinking, one might reference this quote to emphasize the need for rigorous scrutiny of irrational beliefs.
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.
Even so, one step from my grave,_x000D_ _x000D_ I believe that cruelty, spite,_x000D_ _x000D_ The powers of darkness will in time_x000D_ _x000D_ Be crushed by the spirit of light.
If you keep proving stuff that others have done, getting confidence, increasing the complexities of your solutions - for the fun of it - then one day you'll turn around and discover that nobody actually did that one!
You are good when you are fully awake in your speech, Yet you are not evil when you sleep while your tongue staggers without purpose. And even stumbling speech may strengthen a weak tongue.
Impart as much as you can of your spiritual being to those who are on the road with you, and accept as something precious what comes back to you from them.
Find more pleasure in intelligent dissent than in passive agreement, for, if you value intelligence as you should, the former implies a deeper agreement than the latter.
I respect the man who knows distinctly what he wants.
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