Congress consists of one-third, more or less, scoundrels; two-thirds, more or less, idiots; and three-thirds, more or less, poltroons.
Interpretation
Mencken humorously criticizes the quality of Congress by labeling its members derogatorily.
In this quote, H. L. Mencken offers a satirical perspective on the composition of Congress, suggesting that a significant portion of its members are either dishonest or foolish. By exaggerating the proportions and using humorous language, Mencken captures the public's frustration and skepticism towards political institutions and their representatives.
In practice
During a comedy night about politics, this quote could be used 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.
I was so long writing my review that I never got around to reading the book.
All these jokes have been pre-approved as funny by me.
To me Psycho was a big comedy. Had to be.
I said you LOOKED like an egg, Sir. And some eggs are very pretty, you know.
You did what you were told or you didn't get paid, and if things went wrong it wasn't your problem. It was the fault of whatever idiot has accepted this message for sending in the first place. No one cared about you, and everyone at headquarters was an idiot. It wasn't your fault, no one listened to you. Headquarters had even started an Employee of the Month scheme to show how much they cared. That was how much they didn't care.
There are certain sorts of jokes which have only to do with the substitution of the unexpected word in a familiar context. If you translated something into French and then had it translated back into English by somebody who didn't know the original, you'd lose what was funny.
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