Whenever a husband and wife begin to discuss their marriage they are giving evidence at a coroner's inquest.
Interpretation
Discussing marriage can often lead to conflict rather than resolution, suggesting it's a delicate topic.
H. L. Mencken's quote humorously compares marital discussions to a coroner's inquest, implying that examining the state of a marriage can often feel like an investigation into a failed relationship. This metaphor suggests that like an inquest, these discussions can uncover problems and dissatisfaction, which can feel somber and potentially detrimental to the bond between partners, rather than fostering understanding and love.
In practice
During a wedding ceremony, one might quote this to highlight the challenges of marriage.
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.
Between husband and wife friendship seems to exist by nature, for man is naturally disposed to pairing.
The only people out at this hour were ones who couldn't sleep,those haunted by one thing or another:love thwarted, love lost, love thrown away. They were the sort of people who didn't want to be noticed, who wanted to slip through shadows, be alone with their despair.
And he would listen, making only a few comments, always sympathetic, so that when I left him I had the distinct impression he had solved everything for me.
I wanted to know what happened when two people felt it. Would it divide the hurt in two, make it lighter to bear, the way feeling someone's joy seemed to double it?
I might as well enquire,β replied she, βwhy with so evident a design of offending and insulting me, you chose to tell me that you liked me against your will, against your reason, and even against your character?
you can't really know the person standing before you, because always there is some missing piece
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