"The value the world sets upon motives..." - Quote by H L Mencken

“The plain fact is that education is itself a form of propaganda - a deliberate scheme to outfit the pupil, not with the capacity to weigh ideas, but with a simple appetite for gulping ideas ready-made. The aim is to make 'good' citizens, which is to say, docile and uninquisitive citizens.”

“There is something even more valuable to civilization than wisdom, and that is character.”

“Man, at his best, remains a sort of one-lunged animal, never completely rounded and perfect, as a cockroach, say, is perfect.”

“The only artists I have ever known who are personally delightful are bad artists. Good artists exist simply in what they make, and consequently are perfectly uninteresting in what they are.”

“Not very good, I am afraid. But now really, do not you think Udolpho the nicest book in the world?" "The nicest—by which I suppose you mean the neatest. That must depend upon the binding.”

“If we did not have pride, we would not complain of it in others.”

“We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them.”

“We should often blush at our noblest deeds if the world were to see all their underlying motives.”

“Look at the means which a man employs, consider his motives, observe his pleasures. A man simply cannot conceal himself!”