Politics & Power Quote by Clare Boothe Luce

A good Luce line doesn’t argue; it ambushes. She opens with a dead-common stereotype - women “talk too much” - then flips it with a legislative punchline: the filibuster, that baroque ritual of weaponized speechmaking, is a male invention. The joke works because it uses the authority of lived observation (“If you have worked in Congress”) to puncture a cliché that’s usually sustained by vibes and selective hearing. She’s not asking for permission to be witty; she’s using wit as a form of cross-examination.

The intent is double-edged. On the surface, it’s a quip defending women against a sexist trope. Underneath, it’s an indictment of how power gets to redefine its own worst habits as normal, even noble. When men monopolize a room, it’s “debate.” When women do, it’s “chatter.” By invoking the filibuster - not just talk, but talk deployed to stall, dominate, and exhaust - Luce highlights that verbosity isn’t a gender trait; it’s a tactic available to whoever holds the microphone and the rules.

Context matters: Luce wasn’t tossing stones from outside the fortress. She moved between theater, journalism, and high politics, eventually serving in Congress herself. That blend sharpens the line: a dramatist’s ear for timing fused with an insider’s contempt for procedural theatrics. The subtext is pure Luce - feminism without sentimentality, delivered as a laugh that leaves a bruise.