[The dry martini is] the only American invention as perfect as a sonnet.

He did not ask for approval of his ideas, only a decent discussion and then a truce accompanied by the sacrament, preferably, of a dry martini, which he once called 'the only American invention as perfect as a sonnet.' | Not found in Mencken's writings, according to Mencken scholar S. T. Joshi, quoted in "Boozy Buncombe: A phony cocktail quote infiltrates the drinks literature", Eric Felten, Nov 25, 2024 | Attribution comes from Cooke's 1977 work, only later appearing in other sources; see "Is Mencken’s Martini quote as suspect as Parker’s", Nov 2024

of "A pun ... is as perfect as a sonnet, better." by Charles Lamb.