I am sure of this: that if everybody was to drink their bottle a day, there would not be half the disorders in the world there are now.
—Jane Austen, c. 1798Quotes
Sobriety diminishes, discriminates, and says no; drunkenness expands, unites, and says yes.
—William James, 1902People who’ve drunk neat wine don’t care a damn.
—Hipponax, c. 550 BCA true German can’t stand the French, / Yet willingly he drinks their wines.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1832Modern life is often a mechanical oppression, and liquor is the only mechanical relief.
—Ernest Hemingway, 1935Alcohol is the monarch of liquids.
—Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, 1825A man who exposes himself when he is intoxicated has not the art of getting drunk.
—Samuel Johnson, 1779Drunkenness is the very sepulcher / Of man’s wit and his discretion.
—Geoffrey Chaucer, c. 1390As he brews, so shall he drink.
—Ben Jonson, 1598Drugs, cataplasms, and whiskey are stupid substitutes for the dignity and potency of divine mind and its efficacy to heal.
—Mary Baker Eddy, 1908The pleasure we hold in esteem for the course of our lives ought to have a greater share of our time dedicated to it; we should refuse no occasion nor omit any opportunity of drinking, and always have it in our minds.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580The drunken man is a living corpse.
—St. John Chrysostom, c. 390Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need—a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog, and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear, and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing.
—Jerome K. Jerome, 1889