It’s useless to hold a person to anything he says while he’s in love, drunk, or running for office.

The line wryly groups three states—romantic infatuation, intoxication, and political campaigning—in which people are prone to exaggeration, impulsive promises, and self-serving rhetoric. In love, one may vow permanence under the spell of idealization; when drunk, judgment and inhibition loosen; when “running for office,” incentives encourage overpromising and strategic ambiguity. The quote’s humor depends on treating these as comparable forms of unreliability, suggesting that accountability requires stable circumstances and clear-minded intent. It also functions as a skeptical comment on political speech, implying that campaign statements should be discounted much like drunken talk: revealing, perhaps, but not contractually binding.