A prohibitionist is the sort of man one couldn't care to drink with, even if he drank.
Interpretation
This quote humorously critiques prohibitionists, implying they are unlikable people even in their own drinking habits.
H. L. Mencken's quote illustrates a disdain for prohibitionists by suggesting that their strictness and moralizing make them undesirable companions, even if they were to partake in drinking themselves. It highlights the paradox of someone who campaigns against alcohol while simultaneously lacking the charm or appeal necessary for social drinking, emphasizing the absurdity of their stance.
In practice
In a debate about alcohol laws, one could use this quote to lighten the mood and critique prohibitionist attitudes.
I know a good many men of great learning-that is, men born with an extraordinary eagerness and capacity to acquire knowledge. One and all, they tell me that they can't recall learning anything of any value in school. All that schoolmasters managed to accomplish with them was to test and determine the amount of knowledge that they had already acquired independently-and not infrequently the determination was made clumsily and inaccurately.
It takes a long while for a naturally trustful person to reconcile himself to the idea that after all God will not help him
It is the theory of all modern civilized governments that they protect and foster the liberty of the citizen; it is the practice of all of them to limit its exercise, and sometimes very narrowly.
The central belief of every moron is that he is the victim of a mysterious conspiracy against his common rights and true deserts.
The cure for the evils of democracy is more democracy.
It is my conviction that no normal man ever fell in love, within the ordinary meaning of the term, after the age of thirty.
I said you LOOKED like an egg, Sir. And some eggs are very pretty, you know.
The British soldier can stand up to anything except the British War Office.
A lot of people who claim they're political comedians are just comedians who have opinions. But they stop being funny the minute they give their opinions.
Anyone who believes what a cat tells him deserves all he gets.
A girl in the convertible is worth five in the phone book.
He was a long, stripy policeman, who flowed out of his uniform at odd spots, as if Nature, setting out to make a constable, had had a good deal of material left over which she had not liked to throw away but hardly seemed able to fit into the general scheme.
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