I mean, why on earth (outside sickness and hangovers) aren’t people continually drunk? I want ecstasy of the mind all the time.

Modern life is often a mechanical oppression, and liquor is the only mechanical relief.

Alcohol is the monarch of liquids.

Give me chastity and continence, but not just now.

Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations—wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco.

A true German can’t stand the French, / Yet willingly he drinks their wines.

It is impossible to live pleasurably without living wisely, well, and justly, and impossible to live wisely, well, and justly without living pleasurably.

Drink does not drown care but waters it, and makes it grow faster.

Abstainer, n. A weak man who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure.

Thanks be to God: since my leaving drinking of wine, I do find myself much better and do mind my business better, and do spend less money, and less time lost in idle company.

The drunken man is a living corpse.

Drink today and drown all sorrow; / You shall perhaps not do it tomorrow.

The 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.