Legend: A lie that has attained the dignity of age.
Interpretation
A long-held falsehood can often be accepted as truth through repetition over time.
This quote by H. L. Mencken reflects on how lies can become entrenched in society, gaining acceptance as they are repeated over the years. It serves as a reminder to critically evaluate information and to recognize that something's longevity does not guarantee its truthfulness.
In practice
This quote could be used in a debate about historical narratives and how they shape our understanding of the past.
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.
Everybody says they want to be free. Take the train off the tracks and it’s free-but it can’t go anywhere.
Vision without execution is delusion.
When our actions create discord in another person, we, ourselves, in this lifetime or another, will feel that discord. Likewise, if our actions create harmony and empowerment in another, we also come to feel that harmony and empowerment.
Strongest minds are often those whom the noisy world hears least.
Words are things. You must be careful, careful about calling people out of their names, using racial pejoratives and sexual pejoratives and all that ignorance. Don’t do that. Some day we’ll be able to measure the power of words. I think they are things. They get on the walls. They get in your wallpaper. They get in your rugs, in your upholstery, and your clothes, and finally in to you.
Neglect of duty does not cease, by repetition, to be neglect of duty.
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