The Mencken Society

Promoting the living works of Henry Louis Mencken, the "Sage of Baltimore"

  • A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn’t know.
  • Conscience is a mother-in-law whose visit never ends.
  • Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
  • Every man is his own hell.
  • Historian – An unsuccessful novelist.
  • Misogynist – A man who hates women as much as women hate one another.
  • Optimist – The sort of man who marries his sister’s best friend.
  • Puritanism – The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy. 
  • The kind of man who demands that government enforce his ideas is always the kind whose ideas are idiotic.
  • The life of man in this world is like the life of a fly in a room filled with 100 boys, each armed with a fly-swatter.
  • The New Deal began, like the Salvation Army, by promising to save humanity.  It ended, again like the Salvation Army began, by running flop-houses and disturbing the peace.
  • Wealth – Any income that is at least $100 more a year than the income of one’s wife’s sister’s husband.

Promoting the living works of Henry Louis Mencken, the "Sage of Baltimore"

  • Der Tag 2026

    September 12, 2025 (Saturday) Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathederal St Mencken Day Eve — Friday, September 11 06:00PM An open house featuring a casual piano performance and an informal presentation on H.L. Mencken’s place in the Jazz Age social scene is planned for 6-8:30 p.m. Sept. 11th at the H. L. Mencken House, 1524…

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  • 21st (2026) Mencken Graveside Memorial Cancelled

    A chance of snow is forecast for Saturday (01-31) overnight with accumulations of 1 to 3 inches. Temperatures will remain below freezing. I don’t know how clear the access roads at the Loudon Park Cemetery are or will be. Stretches of the road leading to the gravesite have an upslope (which are a downslope when…

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  • 21st (2026) Graveside Memorial

    I will be conducting the 21st graveside memorial on Sunday, February 1, 2026 at 2:00 PM at Loudon Park Cemetery, 3620 Wilkens Ave. After brief remarks attendees are invited to retreat to Spirits West Country Club, 2601 Wilkens Ave., for beer and a light meal. Directional signs will be posted to show the way.

  • The Mencken Room, 2003-2025

    The Mencken Room at the Enoch Pratt Libray will be rededicated as the “DeWayne Wickham Room of Maryland Journalism” in November. Carla Hayden, who was the director of the library from 1993 to 2016 and then Librarian of Congress from 2016 to 2025, encouraged the tribute and new use of the Mencken Room.

  • Mencken Day 2025 Summary

    This year’s celebration was marked by an “Ed Larson Double Feature,” with Dr Edward J. Larson Speaking at both events. Dr Larson has written on Evolution, Creationism and Evolution, and the Scopes Trial among other works.Mencken Society Meeting (Morning Session): President Darryl Hart and Ed Larson, remotely joined by John Barr of Lone Star College-Kingswood,…

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