Abstain from beans.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
Eat not garlic nor onions, lest they find out thy boorish origin by the smell; walk slowly and speak deliberately, but not in such a way as to make it seem thou art listening to thyself, for all affectation is bad. Dine sparingly and sup more sparingly still; for the health of the whole body is forged in the workshop of the stomach. Be temperate in drinking, bearing in mind that wine in excess keeps neither secrets nor promises. Take care, Sancho, not to chew on both sides, and not to eruct in anybody’s presence.
Eruct! said Sancho; I don’t know what that means.
To eruct, Sancho, said Don Quixote, means to belch, and that is one of the filthiest words in the Spanish language, though a very expressive one; and therefore nice folk have had recourse to the Latin, and instead of belch say eruct, and instead of belches say eructations; and if some do not understand these terms it matters little, for custom will bring them into use in the course of time, so that they will be readily understood; this is the way a language is enriched; custom and the public are all-powerful there.
In truth, senor, said Sancho, one of the counsels and cautions I mean to bear in mind shall be this, not to belch, for I’m constantly doing it.
Eruct, Sancho, not belch, said Don Quixote.
Eruct, I shall say henceforth, and I swear not to forget it, said Sancho.
—Miguel de Cervantes (1547–1616) Spanish Novelist
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
Kissing don’t last; cookery do!
—George Meredith (1828–1909) British Novelist, Poet, Critic
Laughter is brightest where food is best.
—Irish Proverb
As a child my family’s menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it.
—Buddy Hackett (1924–2003) American Comedian, Actor
One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.
—Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) English Novelist
It is a difficult matter to argue with the belly since it has no ears.
—Cato the Elder (Marcus Porcius Cato) (234–149 BCE) Roman Statesman
There was no corn—in the wide market-place all loathliest things, even human flesh, was sold; They weighed it in small scales—and many a face was fixed in eager horror then; his gold the miser brought; the tender maid, grown bold through hunger, bared her scorned charms in vain.
—Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) English Poet, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist
Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith
In France, cooking is a serious art form and a national sport.
—Julia Child (1912–2004) American Cook, Author
It isn’t so much what’s on the table that matters, as what’s on the chairs.
—W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) English Dramatist, Librettist, Poet, Illustrator
God gives all birds their food but does not drop it into their nests
—Danish Proverb
The more you eat, the less flavor; the less you eat, the more flavor.
—Chinese Proverb
Hunger is not only the best cook, but also the best physician.
—Unknown
You needn’t tell me that a man who doesn’t love oysters and asparagus and good wines has got a soul, or a stomach either. He’s simply got the instinct for being unhappy highly developed.
—Saki (Hector Hugh Munro) (1870–1916) British Short Story Writer, Satirist, Historian
If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.
—J. R. R. Tolkien (1892–1973) British Scholar, Author
He who eats alone chokes alone.
—Arabic Proverb
Much meat, much disease.
—Common Proverb
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
Sadder than destitution, sadder than a beggar is the man who eats alone in public. Nothing more contradicts the laws of man or beast, for animals always do each other the honor of sharing or disputing each other’s food.
—Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) French Sociologist, Philosopher
When the Somalians were merely another hungry third world people, we sent them guns. Now that they are falling down dead from starvation, we send them troops. Some may see in this a tidy metaphor for the entire relationship between north and south. But it would make a whole lot more sense nutritionally—as well as providing infinitely more vivid viewing—if the Somalians could be persuaded to eat the troops.
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b.1941) American Social Critic, Essayist
There is hunger for ordinary bread, and there is hunger for love, for kindness, for thoughtfulness; and this is the great poverty that makes people suffer so much.
—Mother Teresa (1910–97) Roman Catholic Missionary, Nun
If there were only turnips and potatoes in the world, someone would complain that plants grow the wrong way.
—Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742–99) German Philosopher, Physicist
There are flood and drought over the eyes and in the mouth, dead water and dead sand contending for the upper hand. The parched eviscerate soil gapes at the vanity of toil, laughs without mirth. This is the death of the earth.
—T. S. Eliot (1888–1965) American-born British Poet, Dramatist, Literary Critic
A cheese may disappoint. It may be dull, it may be naive, it may be oversophisticated. Yet it remains cheese, milk’s leap toward immortality.
—Clifton Fadiman (1904–99) American Author, Radio Personality
A fat paunch never bred a subtle mind.
—Anonymous
We may find in the long run that tinned food is a deadlier weapon than the machine-gun.
—George Orwell (1903–50) English Novelist, Journalist
Hunger is a good cook.
—Common Proverb
A man seldom thinks with more earnestness of anything than he does of his dinner.
—Samuel Johnson (1709–84) British Essayist
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
My body is like breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I don’t think about it, I just have it.
—Arnold Schwarzenegger (b.1947) Austrian-American Athlete, Actor, Politician
The flesh endures the storms of the present alone, the mind those of the past and future as well.
—Epicurus (c.341–270 BCE) Greek Philosopher
If you don’t watch your figure, you’ll have more figure to watch.
—Malcolm S. Forbes (1919–1990) American Publisher, Businessperson
A Decalogue of Canons for observation in practical life. 1. Never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day. 2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself. 3. Never spend your money before you have it. 4. Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it will be dear to you. 5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold. 6. We never repent of having eaten too little. 7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. 8. How much pain have cost us the evils which have never happened. 9. Take things always by their smooth handle. 10. When angry, count ten, before you speak; if very angry, an hundred.
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) American Head of State, Lawyer
Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.
—Cicero (106BCE–43BCE) Roman Philosopher, Orator, Politician, Lawyer
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
Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.
—Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827) German Composer, Musician
What is food to one, is to others bitter poison.
—Lucretius (c.99–55 BCE) Roman Epicurean Poet, Philosopher
In terms of fast food and deep understanding of the culture of fast food, I’m your man.
—Bill Gates (b.1955) American Businessperson, Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, Author
God comes to the hungry in the form of food.
—Mohandas K. Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian Hindu Political leader
I have found it to be the most serious objection to coarse labors long continued, that they compelled me to eat and drink coarsely also.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
But for the sake of some little mouthful of flesh, we deprive a soul of the sun and light and of that proportion of life and time it had been born into the world to enjoy.
—Plutarch (c.46–c.120 CE) Greek Biographer, Philosopher
More die in the United States of too much food than of too little.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead—not sick, not wounded—dead.
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
The first law of dietetics seems to be if it tastes good, its bad for you.
—Isaac Asimov (1920–92) Russian-born American Writer, Scientist
Our lives are not in the lap of the gods, but in the lap of our cooks.
—Lin Yutang (1895–1976) Chinese Author, Philologist
Seven’s a banquet nine a brawl.
—Common Proverb
Lunch kills half of Paris, supper the other half.
—Montesquieu (1689–1755) French Political Philosopher, Jurist
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
—The Holy Bible Scripture in the Christian Faith