Mencken, H. L. Prejudices: A Selection. N.Y.: Vintage Books, 1955. [H,R]

[On Ring Lardner:} "The professors of his own day, of course, are quite unaware of him, save perhaps as a low zany to be enjoyed behind the door. They would no more venture to whoop him up publicly and officially than their predecessors of 1880 would have ventured to whoop up Mark Twain, or their remoter predecessors of 1837 would have dared to say anything for Haliburton. In such matters the academic mind, being chiefly animated by a fear of sneers, works very slowly." (197)

"This world, and especially this Republic, is no place for idealists." (204)

"The essence of a professional man is that he is answerable for his professional conduct only to his professional peers." (216) [The problem with this, at least in the field of education, is that the professional peers are either too afraid of sneers (See the first quotation from Mencken.), or they are too absorded in their own little worlds. As a result, the professional in education is, in essence, answerable to no one.]