"A bad artist almost always tries to..." - Quote by H L Mencken

“An author, like any other so-called artist, is a man in whom the normal vanity of all men is so vastly exaggerated that he finds it a sheer impossibility to hold it in. His over-powering impulse is to gyrate before his fellow men, flapping his wings and emitting defiant yells. This being forbidden by the police of all civilized nations, he takes it out by putting his yells on paper. Such is the thing called self-expression.”

“...no man of genuinely superior intelligence has ever been an actor. Even supposing a young man of appreciable mental powers to be lured upon the stage, as philosophers are occasionally lured into bordellos, his mind would be inevitably and almost immediately destroyed by the gaudy nonsense issuing from his mouth every night.”

“On the one hand, we may tell the truth, regardless of consequences, and on the other hand we may mellow it and sophisticate it to make it humane and tolerable.”

“It is as impossible to translate poetry as it is to translate music.”

“Gather quicklyOut of darknessAll the songs you knowAnd throw them at the sunBefore they meltLike snow.”

“Music then is simply the result of the effects of Love on rhythm and harmony.”

“Always assume incompetence before looking for conspiracy.”

“I cannot approve of your method of operation, you proceed like a bewildered idiot, taking not the least notice of my orders.”

“One of the painfully sobering realizations that come from reading history is the utter incompetence that is possible among leaders of whole nations and empires - and the blind faith that such leaders can nevertheless inspire among the people who are enthralled by their words or their posturing.”