"The late William Jennings Bryan, L.L.D., always..." - Quote by H L Mencken
The late William Jennings Bryan, L.L.D., always had one great advantage in controversy; he was never burdened with an understanding of his opponent's case.
More by H L Mencken
“Unsuccessful candidates for the Presidency should be quietly hanged as a matter of public sanitation and decorum.”
“There are no institutions in America: there are only fashions.”
“If all the lawyers were hanged tomorrow, and their bones were sold to a mah jong factory, we'd all be freer and safer, and our taxes would be reduced by almost a half.”
More on Debate
“The absent are easily refuted.”
“I am only a philosopher, and there is only one thing that a philosopher can be relied on to do, and that is, to contradict other philosophers.”
“The essence and foundation of House of Commons debating is formal conversation. The set speech, the harangue addressed to constituents, or to the wider public out of doors, has never succeeded much in our small wisely-built chamber. To do any good you have got to get down to grips with the subject and in human touch with the audience.”
More on Ignorance
“By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.”
“He hath not eat paper, as it were; he hath not drunk ink; his intellect is not replenished; he is only an animal, only sensible in the duller parts. (Shakespeare, Love's Labor's Lost, IV)”
“Ignorance is death, knowledge is life. Life is of very little value, if it is a life in the dark, groping through ignorance and misery.”