The cosmos is a gigantic flywheel making 10,000 revolutions per minute. Man is a sick fly taking a dizzy ride on it.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on the vastness of the universe and humanity's small, chaotic existence within it.
H. L. Mencken's quote compares the universe to a massive, relentless flywheel, emphasizing its immense scale and the rapid, constant motion of life. In this metaphor, humans are depicted as a 'sick fly,' suggesting a sense of disorientation and the uncontrollable nature of our lives as we navigate the complexities of existence amid the vast cosmos.
In practice
In a speech about the complexities of life and the universe, one might say, 'As Mencken wisely put it, the cosmos is like a flywheel, and we are but dizzy flies upon it.'
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.
...men can only be highly civilized while other men, inevitably less civilized, are there to guard and feed them.
Well, I believe life is a Zen koan, that is, an unsolvable riddle. But the contemplation of that riddle - even though it cannot be solved - is, in itself, transformative. And if the contemplation is of high enough quality, you can merge with the divine.
To insult someone we call him 'bestial. For deliberate cruelty and nature, 'human' might be the greater insult.
Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can't help them, at least don't hurt them.
Homer's work hits again and again on the topos of the inexpressible. People will always do that.
Still desiring, we live without hope.
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