In the United States, doing good has come to be, like patriotism, a favorite device of persons with something to sell.
Interpretation
Mencken critiques the commercialization of altruism and patriotism in American society.
In this quote, H. L. Mencken observes that the act of doing good, much like expressing patriotism, has become a tool exploited by individuals seeking to promote their own interests or agendas. He suggests that what is often presented as genuine goodwill may actually be a superficial facade used to gain favor, sell products, or manipulate public perception.
In practice
During a discussion on the influence of marketing in social initiatives, this quote can highlight the misconception that altruism is always selfless.
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.
The commonest fallacy among women is that simply having children makes them a mother - which is as absurd as believing that having a piano makes one a musician.
When I was young, I had to choose between the life of being and the life of doing. And I leapt at the latter like a trout to a fly. But each deed you do, each act, binds you to itself and to its consequences, and makes you act again and yet again. Then very seldom do you come upon a space, a time like this, between act and act, when you may stop and simply be. Or wonder who, after all, you are.
...My point is, I went crazy. When I saw what a black, awful joke the world was. I went crazy as a coot! I admit it! Why can't you?
Perhaps a man may commit suicide in self-defense.
The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear.
You can't live in this world but there's nowhere else to go.
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