H. L. Mencken

"To sum up: 1. The cosmos is a gigantic fly-wheel making 10,000 revolutions a minute. 2. Man is a sick fly taking a dizzy ride. 3. Religion is the theory that the wheel was designed and set spinning to give him a ride."

Born on September 12, 1880, Henry Louis Mencken was an American writer, journalist, satirist and philosopher, hailed as the "Sage of Baltimore" and an "American Nietzsche." An acerbic critic of government, religion and popular culture, Mencken gained fame for his bitingly sardonic prose and caustic wit, becoming one of the most influential writers and stylists of the early 20th century, as well as one of its leading cynics and skeptics.

His writings include:
 * The Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche.
 * A Book of Prefaces.
 * In Defense of Women, a controversial book which, according to one biographer, earned Mencken a place as "either a great defender of women's rights or the country's high-priest of woman-haters."
 * The American Language.
 * Prejudices.
 * Treatise on the Gods.
 * Treatise on Right and Wrong.
 * Notes On Democracy.