There are two impossibilities in life: "just one drink" and "an honest politician."
Interpretation
The quote humorously highlights the challenges of moderation and trust in politics.
H. L. Mencken's quote cleverly points out two concepts that are generally viewed as unattainable: the idea that one can indulge in 'just one drink' suggests the difficulty of moderation in alcohol consumption, while 'an honest politician' implies a deep skepticism regarding the integrity of political figures. By framing these ideas as impossibilities, Mencken uses humor to critique both personal impulses and societal issues within politics.
In practice
This quote could be used in a humorous speech at a political fundraiser to lighten the mood.
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.
The audience today has heard every joke. They know every plot. They know where you're going before you even start. That's a tough audience to surprise, and a tough audience to write for. It's much more competitive now, because the audience is so much more - I want to say sophisticated.
Journalists do not live by words alone, although sometimes they have to eat them.
I was studying the sky like I was an astronomer, except it was daytime and I didn't have a telescope, so I was just an idiot.
Those of you who are not aware of my brilliant career as a stand up comic, I'm not aware of it either so we might well wonder what we're doing here.
When you're in comedy, people always come up and say, 'Oh, it must be so hard.' It really isn't hard unless you're not good at it. If you can do it, its really kind of fun and easy.
And I will make it felony to drink small beer.
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