I admire and crave competence in any field from adultery to zoology.

The earliest solid match in the provided material is Mencken’s 1943 preface to his memoir volume, where he remarks that competence is rare and therefore admirable, using the A-to-Z flourish “from adultery to zoology.” A later, shorter wording circulates via Alistair Cooke’s 1999 recollection of Mencken speaking in a newsroom, but Cooke’s underlying source for that phrasing is not identified in the article text.

The line praises skill and professionalism wherever it appears, even in morally dubious or trivial pursuits, emphasizing that genuine mastery is uncommon and therefore worthy of respect.

Indeed, I simply can’t imagine competence as anything save admirable, for it is very rare in this world, and especially in this great Republic, and those who have it in some measure, in any art or craft from adultery to zoology, are the only human beings I can think of who will be worth the oil it will take to fry them in Hell.

The older I get the more I admire and crave competence, just simple competence, in any field from adultery to zoology.

All I desire is competence in anything from adultery to zoology.