Where does one not find that bland degeneration which beer produces in the spirit!
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900) German Philosopher, Scholar, Writer
Alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy.
—Frank Sinatra (1915–1998) American Singer
Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.
—Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) Swiss Psychologist, Psychiatrist, Philosopher
Other countries drink to get drunk, and this is accepted by everyone; in France, drunkenness is a consequence, never an intention. A drink is felt as the spinning out of a pleasure, not as the necessary cause of an effect which is sought: wine is not only a philter, it is also the leisurely act of drinking.
—Roland Barthes (1915–80) French Writer, Critic, Teacher
First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940) American Novelist
When the wine goes in, strange things come out.
—Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805) German Poet, Dramatist
It takes that je ne sais quoi which we call sophistication for a woman to be magnificent in a drawing-room when her faculties have departed but she herself has not yet gone home.
—James Thurber
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) British Politician, Socialite
They who drink beer will think beer.
—Washington Irving (1783–1859) American Essayist, Biographer, Historian
It is all nonsense about not being able to work without ale, and gin, and cider, and fermented liquors. Do lions and cart-horses drink ale?
—Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English Clergyman, Essayist, Wit
Prohibition may be a disputed theory, but none can say that it doesn’t hold water.
—Thomas Lansing Masson (1866–1934) American Anthropologist, Editor, Author
Alcohol is like love. The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you take the girl’s clothes off.
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959) American Novelist
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
The worst thing about some men is that when they are not drunk they are sober.
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) Irish Poet, Dramatist
Bronze is the mirror of the form; wine, of the heart.
—Aeschylus (525–456 BCE) Greek Playwright
Champagne, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector. It encourages a man to be expansive, even reckless, while lie detectors are only a challenge to tell lies successfully.
—Graham Greene (1904–1991) British Novelist, Short Story Writer, Playwright
A drinker has a hole under his nose that all his money runs into.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
Alcohol is a good preservative for everything but brains.
—Mary Pettibone Poole American Aphorist
When a woman drinks it’s as if an animal were drinking, or a child. Alcoholism is scandalous in a woman, and a female alcoholic is rare, a serious matter. It’s a slur on the divine in our nature.
—Marguerite Duras (1914–96) French Novelist, Playwright
Alcohol is necessary for a man so that he can have a good opinion of himself, undisturbed be the facts.
—Finley Peter Dunne (1867–1936) American Humorist, Journalist, Creator of “Mr. Dooley”
If merely “feeling good” could decide, drunkenness would be the supremely valid human experience.
—William James (1842–1910) American Philosopher, Psychologist, Physician
We hear of the conversion of water into wine at the marriage in Cana as of a miracle. But this conversion is, through the goodness of God, made every day before our eyes. Behold the rain which descends from heaven upon our vineyards, and which incorporates itself with the grapes, to be changed into wine; a constant proof that God loves us, and loves to see us happy.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
Candy, is dandy, but Liquor, is quicker.
—Ogden Nash (1902–71) American Writer of Sophisticated Light Verse
You can’t be a Real Country unless you have a BEER and an airline—it helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a BEER.
—Frank Zappa (1940–93) American Rock Guitarist, Singer, Composer
It was a woman who drove me to drink, and I never had the courtesy to thank her for it.
—W. C. Fields (1880–1946) American Comedian, Actor, Writer
I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.
—Winston Churchill (1874–1965) British Leader, Historian, Journalist, Author
I drank at every vine.
The last was like the first.
I came upon no wine
So wonderful as thirst.
—Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950) American Poet, Playwright, Feminist
Wine is a turncoat; first a friend and then an enemy.
—Henry Fielding (1707–54) English Novelist, Dramatist
The most terrible thing about materialism, even more terrible than its proneness to violence, is its boredom, from which sex, alcohol, drugs, all devices for putting out the accusing light of reason and suppressing the unrealizable aspirations of love, offer a prospect of deliverance.
—Malcolm Muggeridge (1903–90) English Journalist, Author, Satirist, Media Personality
Malt does more than Milton can to justify God’s ways to man.
—A. E. Housman (1859–1936) English Poet, Classical Scholar
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