What a sober man has in his heart, a drunken man has on his lips.
—Danish Proverb
A red-nosed man may not be a drunkard, but he will always be called one.
—Chinese Proverb
Thirst is the end of drinking and sorrow is the end of drunkenness.
—Irish Proverb
The best cure for drunkenness is whilst sober to observe a drunken person.
—Chinese Proverb
Troops of furies march in the drunkard’s triumph.
—Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann (1728–1795) Swiss Philosophical Writer, Naturalist, Physician
A drunken may soon be made to dance.
—Danish Proverb
Drunkenness is the vice of a good constitution or of a bad memory—of a constitution so treacherously good that it never bends till it breaks; or of a memory that recollects the pleasures of getting intoxicated, but forgets the pains of getting sober.
—Charles Caleb Colton (c.1780–1832) English Clergyman, Aphorist
Drunkenness does not itself cause bad qualities but it does show them up clearly.
—Chinese Proverb
Since the wine is drawn it must be drunk.
—French 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
I drink when I have occasion, and sometimes when I have no occasion.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
Yesterday’s drunkenness will not quench today’s thirst.
—Egyptian Proverb
I have drunk, and seen the spider.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
When your companions get drunk and fight, Take up your hat, and wish them good night.
—Japanese Proverb
Heaven protects children, sailors, and drunken men.
—German Proverb
All the armies on earth do not destroy so many of the human race, nor alienate so much property, as drunkenness.
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626) English Philosopher
If you want to know who your friends are, lie by the roadside and pretend to be drunk.
—Jamaican Proverb
What the sober man thinks the drunkard tells.
—French Proverb
When I played drunks I had to remain sober because I didn’t know how to play them when I was drunk.
—Richard Burton (1925–84) Welsh Actor
There’s no harm in wine; it’s drunkenness that is at fault.
—Russian Proverb
Eat until you are half full; drink until you are half drunk.
—Russian Proverb
When the doors of opportunity swing open, we must make sure that we are not too drunk or too indifferent to walk through.
—Jesse Jackson (b.1941) American Baptist Civil Rights Activist, Minister
All excess is ill; but drunkenness is of the worst sort. It spoils health, dismounts the mind, and unmans men. It reveals secrets, is quarrelsome, lascivious, impudent, dangerous, and mad. He that is drunk is not a man, because he is void of reason that distinguishes a man from a beast.
—William Penn (1644–1718) American Entrepreneur, Political leader, Philosopher
It were better for a man to be subject to any vice, than to drunkenness; for all other vanities and sins are recovered, but a drunkard will never shake off the delight of beastliness; for the longer it possesseth a man, the more he will delight in it, and the older he groweth the more he shall be subject to it; for it dulleth the spirits, and destroyeth the body as ivy doth the ola tree; or as the worm that engendereth in the kernel of the nut.
—Walter Raleigh (1552–1618) English Courtier, Navigator, Poet
There is scarcely a crime before me that is not, directly or indirectly, caused by strong drink.
—Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849) English Writer, Poet
Wine is one thing, drunkenness another.
—Latin Proverb
The sheep drinks but it’s the goat that gets drunk.
—French Proverb
The drunken mouth reveals the heart’s secrets.
—German Proverb
There are more old drunkards than old physicians.
—Francois Rabelais (1494–1553) French Humanist, Satirist
He who is drunk from wine can sober up, he who is drunk from wealth cannot.
—African Proverb