Man being reasonable must get drunk; the best of life is but intoxication. Glory, the grape, love, gold – in these are sunk the hopes of all men and of every nation.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
Let those that merely talk and never think, That live in the wild anarchy of drink
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
Bacchus’ blessings are a treasure; Drinking is the soldier’s pleasure.
—John Dryden (1631–1700) English Poet, Literary Critic, Playwright
Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you fight with your neighbor. It makes you shoot at your landlord and it makes you miss him.
—Anonymous
It is well to remember that there are five reasons for drinking: the arrival of a friend, one’s present or future thirst, the excellence of the wine, or any other reason.
—Latin Proverb
A good writer is not necessarily a good book critic. No more so than a good drunk is automatically a good bartender.
—Jim Bishop (1907–87) American Journalist, Author
To be always intending to live a new life, but never to find time to set about it; this is as if a man should put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day and night to another, till he is starved and destroyed.
—John Tillotson
Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961) American Author, Journalist, Short Story Writer
Under a bad cloak there is often a good drinker
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
Drink today, and drown all sorrow; You shall perhaps not do it tomorrow; Best, while you have it, use your breath; There is no drinking after death
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
The problem with some people is that when they aren’t drunk, they’re sober.
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) Irish Poet, Dramatist
Drink moderately, for drunkenness neither keeps a secret, nor observes a promise
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
Would that I were a dry well, and that the people tossed stones into me, for that would be easier than to be a spring of flowing water that the thirsty pass by, and from which they avoid drinking.
—Kahlil Gibran (1883–1931) Lebanese-born American Philosopher, Poet, Painter, Theologian, Sculptor
Strong drink is not only the devil’s way into a man, but man’s way to the devil.
—Adam Clarke (1762–1832) British Methodist Scholar, Theologian, Clergyman
Wine is sunlight, held together by water.
—Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) Italian Astronomer, Physicist, Mathematician
Drunkards are doomed to hell, so men declare, Believe it not, ’tis but a foolish scare; Heaven will be empty as this hand of mine, If none who love good drink find entrance there.
—Omar Khayyam (1048–1123) Persian Mathematician
Champagne does have one regular drawback: swilled as a regular thing a certain sourness settles in the tummy, and the result is permanent bad breath. Really incurable.
—Truman Capote (1924–84) American Novelist
I am grieved that it should be said he is my brother, and take these courses. Well, as he brews, so shall he drink, for George again. Yet he shall hear on’t, and tightly, too, an’ I live, i’faith.
—Ben Jonson (1572–1637) English Dramatist, Poet, Actor
A new morality has burst upon us with some violence in connection with the problem of strong drink; and enthusiasts in the matter range from the man who is violently thrown out at 12.30, to the lady who smashes American bars with an axe. In these discussions it is almost always felt that one very wise and moderate position is to say that wine or such stuff should only be drunk as a medicine. With this I should venture to disagree with a peculiar ferocity. The one genuinely dangerous and immoral way of drinking wine is to drink it as a medicine. And for this reason: If a man drinks wine in order to obtain pleasure, he is trying to obtain something exceptional; something he does not expect every hour of the day; something which, unless he is a little insane, he will not try to get every hour of the day. But if a man drinks wine in order to obtain health, he is trying to get something natural; something, that is, that he ought not to be without; something that he may find it difficult to reconcile himself to being without. The man may not be seduced who has seen the ecstasy of being ecstatic; it is more dazzling to catch a glimpse of the ecstasy of being ordinary.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
The first draught serveth for health, the second for pleasure, the third or shame, and the fourth for madness.
—Anacharsis (fl. 6th century BCE) Scythian Prince
I believe that water is the only drink for a wise man.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
I envy people who drink – at least they know what to blame everything on.
—Oscar Levant (1906–72) American Musician, Composer, Author, Comedian, Actor
Wine makes a man better pleased with himself. I do not say that it makes him more pleasing to others… This is one of the disadvantages of wine, it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
Whether or not the world would be vastly benefited by a total banishment from it of all intoxicating drinks seems not now an open question. Three-fourths of mankind confess the affirmative with their tongues, and I believe all the rest acknowledge it in their hearts.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
If drinking is interfering with your work, you’re probably a heavy drinker. If work is interfering with your drinking, you’re probably an alcoholic.
—Indian Proverb
I think a man ought to get drunk at least twice a year just on principle, so he won’t let himself get snotty about it.
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) American Novelist
It takes only one drink to get me drunk. The trouble is, I can’t remember if it’s the thirteenth or the fourteenth.
—George Burns (1896–1996) American Comedian
The chief reason for drinking is the desire to behave in a certain way, and to be able to blame it on alcohol.
—Mignon McLaughlin (1913–83) American Journalist, Author
Sometimes too much to drink is barely enough
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
A man cannot make him laugh; but that’s no marvel; he drinks no wine.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Drunkenness is temporary suicide: the happiness that it brings is merely negative, a momentary cessation of unhappiness
—Bertrand A. Russell (1872–1970) British Philosopher, Mathematician, Social Critic
There can be nothing more frequent than an occasional drink.
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900) Irish Poet, Playwright
Wine gives a man nothing. It neither gives him knowledge nor wit; it only animates a man, and enables him to bring out what a dread of the company has repressed. It only puts in motion what had been locked up in frost.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
prohibition makes you want to cry into your beer and denies you the beer to cry into
—Don Marquis (1878–1937) American Humorist, Journalist, Author
Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man’s appetite by legislation, and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes. A Prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–65) American Head of State
Petition me no petitions, sir, to-day;
Let other hours be set apart for business.
To-day it is our pleasure to be drunk;
And this our queen shall be as drunk as we.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.
—Henny Youngman (1906–98) Anglo-American Comedian, Violinist
When you’re thirty-five, you can’t take as much booze … and I always got a little violent on drink…So it was kind of self-destructive suicide side of me, which is resolving itself for the better, I believe, because I never enjoyed it…
—John Lennon (1940–80) British Singer, Songwriter, Musician, Activist
Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian.
—Herman Melville (1819–91) American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist, Poet
Drink the first. Sip the second slowly. Skip the third.
—Knute Rockne (1888–1931) American College Football Coach
The maxim, “in vino Veritas—that a man who is well warmed with wine will speak truth,” may be an argument for drinking, if you suppose men in general to be liars; but, sir, I would not keep company with a fellow, who lies as long as he is sober, and whom you must make drunk before you can get a word of truth out of him.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
I drink no more than a sponge
—Francois Rabelais (1494–1553) French Humanist, Satirist
I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s as good as they’re going to feel all day.
—Unknown
Many contemporary authors drink more than they write
—Maxim Gorky (1868–1936) Russian Writer, Dramatist, Political Activist, Novelist
First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.
—Frank Sinatra (1915–1998) American Singer