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The capacity of human beings to bore one another seems to be vastly greater than that of any other animal.
H. L. Mencken
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Humans have an exceptional ability to find others tedious compared to other animals.

This quote by H. L. Mencken humorously suggests that the capacity for boredom amongst humans is uniquely high. It implies that while animals may have their own forms of social interaction, humans possess a distinct and often comical tendency to find each other dull, highlighting a quirk of human nature that involves social fatigue and the search for stimulation.

Themes

BoredomHuman NatureTediousSocial InteractionHumor

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used to lighten the mood in a conversation about social gatherings.

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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.
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It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
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Quote by H. L. Mencken | QuoteProject