I can reason down or deny everything, except this perpetual Belly: feed he must and will, and I cannot make him respectable.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Square meals often make round people.
—E. Joseph Cossman
And, of course, the funniest food of all, kumquats.
—George Carlin (1937–2008) American Stand-up Comedian
Edible. Good to eat and wholesome to digest, as a worm to a toad, a toad to a snake, a snake to a pig, a pig to a man, and a man to a worm.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
The whole of nature, as has been said, is a conjugation of the verb to eat, in the active and in the passive.
—William Motter Inge (1913–73) American Playwright, Novelist
Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.
—Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) German Composer, Musician
Never work before breakfast. If you have to work before breakfast, get your breakfast first.
—Josh Billings (Henry Wheeler Shaw) (1818–85) American Humorist, Author, Lecturer
A store of grain, Oh king is the best of treasures. A gem put in your mouth will not support life.
—The Hitopadesha Indian Collection of Fables
He that eats till he is sick must fast till he is well.
—English Proverb
God comes to the hungry in the form of food.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
A fruit is a vegetable with looks and money. Plus, if you let fruit rot, it turns into wine, something Brussels sprouts never do.
—P. J. O’Rourke (1947–2022) American Journalist, Political Satirist
Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
What will not luxury taste? Earth, sea, and air, Are daily ransack’d for the bill of fare. Blood stuffed in skins is British Christians’ food, And France obs marshes of the croaking brood.
—John Gay (1685–1732) English Poet, Dramatist
He pares his apple that will cleanly feed.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
When the Sultan Shah-Zaman Goes to the city Ispahan, Even before he gets so far As the place where the clustered palm-trees are, At the last of he thirty palace-gates The pet of the harem, Rose-in-Bloom, Orders a feast in his favorite room—Glittering square of colored ice, Sweetened ith syrup, tinctured with spice, Creams, and cordials, and sugared dates, Syrian apples, Othmanee quinces, Limes and citrons and apricots,
And wines that are known to Eastern princes.
—Thomas Bailey Aldrich (1836–1907) American Writer, Poet, Critic, Editor
Do not dig your grave with your own knife and fork.
—English Proverb
Those who forget the pasta are condemned to reheat it
—Unknown
People think that if a man has undergone any hardship, he should have a reward; but for my part, if I have done the hardest possible day’s work, and then come to sit down in a corner and eat my supper comfortably—why, then I don’t think I deserve any reward for my hard day’s work—for am I not now at peace? Is not my supper good?
—Herman Melville (1819–91) American Novelist, Short Story Writer, Essayist, Poet
Condensed milk is wonderful. I don’t see how they can get a cow to sit down on those little cans.
—Fred Allen (1894–1956) American Humorist, Radio Personality
For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the staff, the whole stay of bread, and the hole stay of water.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
A daydream is a meal at which images are eaten. Some of us are gourmets, some gourmands, and a good many take their images precooked out of a can and swallow them down whole, absent-mindedly and with little relish.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
A cherefull look makes a dish a feast.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
Reading without reflecting is like eating without digesting.
—Edmund Burke (1729–97) British Philosopher, Statesman
I do not like broccoli. And I haven’t liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I’m President of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli.
—George H. W. Bush (1924–2018) American Republican Statesman, 41st President
I refuse to believe that trading recipes is silly. Tuna fish casserole is at least as real as corporate stock.
—Barbara Grizzuti Harrison (1934–2002) American Journalist, Essayist, Memoirist, Travel Writer
Success to me is having ten honeydew melons and eating only the top half of each one.
—Barbra Streisand (b.1942) American Musician, Actor, Songwriter
Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education.
—Mark Twain (1835–1910) American Humorist
Gluttony kills more than the sword.
—George Herbert (1593–1633) Welsh Anglican Poet, Orator, Clergyman
Man is a carnivorous production, And must have meals, at least one meal a day; He cannot live, like woodcocks, upon suction, But, like the shark nd tiger, must have prey; Although his anatomical construction Bears vegetables, in a grumbling way, Your laboring people think beyond all uestion, Beef, veal, and mutton better for digestion.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) English Poet, Literary Critic, Philosopher
Upscale people are fixated with food simply because they are now able to eat so much of it without getting fat, and the reason they don’t get fat is that they maintain a profligate level of calorie expenditure. The very same people whose evenings begin with melted goats cheese… get up at dawn to run, break for a mid-morning aerobics class, and watch the evening news while racing on a stationary bicycle.
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b.1941) American Social Critic, Essayist
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
Rice is born in water and must die in wine
—Italian Proverb
Kissing don’t last; cookery do!
—George Meredith (1828–1909) British Novelist, Poet, Critic
Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live.
—Socrates (469BCE–399BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher
Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon.
—Doug Larson (1926–2017) American Columnist
Soup is liquid comfort
—Unknown
The breakfast slimes, angel food cake, doughnuts and coffee, white bread and gravy cannot build an enduring nation.
—Martin H. Fischer
There is no love sincerer than the love of food.
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
Hors d’oeuvres have always a pathetic interest for me; they remind me of one’s childhood that one goes through wondering what the next course is going to be like—and during the rest of the menu one wishes one had eaten more of the hors d’oeuvres.
—Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) (1870–1916) British Short Story Writer, Satirist, Historian
We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink.
—Epicurus (c.341–270 BCE) Greek Philosopher
First come, first served.
—Common Proverb
Clearly, some time ago makers and consumers of American junk food passed jointly through some kind of sensibility barrier in the endless quest for new taste sensations. Now they are a little like those desperate junkies who have tried every known drug and are finally reduced to mainlining toilet bowl cleanser in an effort to get still higher.
—Bill Bryson (1951–95) American Humorist, Author, Educator
This is every cook’s opinion – no savory dish without an onion, but lest your kissing should be spoiled your onions must be fully boiled.
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) Irish Satirist
What is stronger than a mother’s love? The smell of spring onions on your girl’s breath.
—Unknown
Breadbaking is one of those almost hypnotic businesses, like a dance from some ancient ceremony. It leaves you filled with one of the world’s sweetest smells… there is no chiropractic treatment, no Yoga exercise, no hour of meditation in a music-throbbing chapel, that will leave you emptier of bad thoughts than this homely ceremony of making bread.
—M. F. K. Fisher (1908–92) American Writer, Publisher
Custard: A detestable substance produced by a malevolent conspiracy of the hen, the cow, and the cook.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Fish, to taste right, must swim three times – in water, in butter, and in wine
—Polish Proverb
Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity
—Voltaire (1694–1778) French Philosopher, Author