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
Drunkenness makes some men fools, some beasts, and some devils.
—Latin Proverb
The drunken man’s joy is often the sober man’s sorrow.
—Danish Proverb
A drunken man, when asleep, is better left alone.
—Latin Proverb
Wine that cost nothing is digested before it be drunk.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
What soberness conceals, drunkenness reveals.
—Latin Proverb
Drunkards talk to the gods.
—Chinese Proverb
You don’t get a headache from what other people have drunk.
—Russian Proverb
I drink when I have occasion, and sometimes when I have no occasion.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
Habitual intoxication is the epitome of every crime.
—Douglas William Jerrold (1803–57) English Writer, Dramatist, Wit
The best cure for drunkenness is whilst sober to observe a drunken person.
—Chinese Proverb
If you want to know who your friends are, lie by the roadside and pretend to be drunk.
—Jamaican Proverb
Since the wine is drawn it must be drunk.
—French Proverb
Drunkenness is simply voluntary insanity.
—Seneca the Younger (Lucius Annaeus Seneca) (c.4 BCE–65 CE) Roman Stoic Philosopher, Statesman, Tragedian
If the master gets drunk it is an honorable drunkenness; if the servant does it is evidence of his mean disposition.
—Tibetan Proverb
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
Heaven protects children, sailors, and drunken men.
—German Proverb
Let there be an entire abstinence from intoxicating drinks throughout this country during the period of a single generation, and a mob would be as impossible as combustion without oxygen.
—Horace Mann (1796–1859) American Educator, Politician, Educationalist
One reason I don’t drink is that I want to know when I am having a good time.
—Nancy Astor, Viscountess Astor (1879–1964) American-born British Politician
When a rich man falls they say it was an accident; when a poor man falls they say that he was drunk.
—Turkish Proverb
Of all vices take heed of drunkenness. Other vices are but the fruits of disordered affections; this disorders, nay banishes reason.—Other vices but impair the soul; this demolishes her two chief acuities, the understanding and the will. Other vices make their own way; this makes way for all vices.—He that is a drunkard is qualified for all vice.
—Francis Quarles (1592–1644) English Religious Poet
Only a fool gets drunk from his own bottle.
—French Proverb
What is a drunken man like? Like a drown’d man, a fool, and a madman; one draught above heat makes him a fool; the second mads him; and a third drowns him.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
There is scarcely a crime before me that is not, directly or indirectly, caused by strong drink.
—Hartley Coleridge (1796–1849) English Writer, Poet
Nothing equals the joy of the drinker, except the joy of the wine in being drunk.
—French Proverb
Yesterday’s drunkenness will not quench today’s thirst.
—Egyptian Proverb
A drunkards purse is a bottle.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
I don’t drink; I don’t like it—it makes me feel good.
—Oscar Levant (1906–72) American Musician, Composer, Author, Comedian, Actor
A drunken may soon be made to dance.
—Danish Proverb
To drunken mothers-in-law give full jugs.
—Spanish Proverb
Sin when you are drunk, pay the fine when you are sober.
—German 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
Troops of furies march in the drunkard’s triumph.
—Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann (1728–1795) Swiss Philosophical Writer, Naturalist, Physician
When your companions get drunk and fight, Take up your hat, and wish them good night.
—Japanese Proverb
He is a drunkard who takes more than three glasses though he be not drunk.
—Epictetus (55–135) Ancient Greek Philosopher
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
Mad drunkenness discloses every secret.
—Latin Proverb
The sober man’s secret is the drunkard’s speech.
—Russian Proverb
Nothing bears a stronger resemblance to a madman than a man when drunk.
—Latin Proverb
There’s no harm in wine; it’s drunkenness that is at fault.
—Russian Proverb
Wine bears no blame—only the drunkard.
—Russian Proverb
A bad man talks about what he has eaten and drunk—a good man about what he has seen and heard.
—Chinese Proverb
Ever drunk, ever dry.
—Latin Proverb
Thirst is the end of drinking and sorrow is the end of drunkenness.
—Irish Proverb
Drunk sweetly, paid sourly.
—German Proverb
He that is drunk is gone from home.
—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
To stop drinking, study a drunkard when you are sober.
—Chinese Proverb
What a sober man has in his heart, a drunken man has on his lips.
—Danish Proverb
Eat until you are half full; drink until you are half drunk.
—Russian Proverb