A living language is like a man suffering incessantly from small hemorrhages, and what it needs above all else is constant transactions of new blood from other tongues. The day the gates go up, that day it begins to die.


H. L. Mencken's Smart set criticism (ed. 1968)

H. L. Mencken Quotes

A living language is like a man suffering incessantly from small hemorrhages, and what it needs above all else is constant transactions of new blood...

A living language is like a man suffering incessantly from small hemorrhages, and what it needs above all else is constant transactions of new blood...

A living language is like a man suffering incessantly from small hemorrhages, and what it needs above all else is constant transactions of new blood...

A living language is like a man suffering incessantly from small hemorrhages, and what it needs above all else is constant transactions of new blood...