DRINKING AND DRUNKENNESS

Related Subjects: Ale and Beer, Conviviality, Crime, Dissipation, Merriment, Temperance, Thirst, Toast, Wine

1. Were I to prescribe a rule for drinking, it should be formed upon a saying quoted by Sir William Temple: the first glass for myself, the second for my friends, the third for good humour, and the forth for mine enemies.—ADDISON, The Spectator
   

2. If all be true that I do think,
   There are five reasons we should drink;
   Good wine—a friend—or being dry—
   Or lest we should be by and by—
   Or any other reason why.—HENRY ALDRICH, Five Reasons for Drinking
   

3. Inspiring bold John Barleycorn,
   What dangers thou canst make us scorn!—BURNS, Tam o' Shanter

4. What's drinking?
   A mere pause from thinking!—BYRON, The Deformed Transformed

5. For dronkenesse is verray sepulture
   Of mannes wit and his discrecioun.—CHAUCER, Canterbury Tales
   

6. Fill all the glasses there, for why
   Should every creature drink but I?
   Why, man of morals, tell me why?—ABRAHAM COWLEY, Anacreon II
   

7. All learned, and all drunk!—COWPER, The Task
   

8. Gloriously drunk, obey the important call.—COWPER, The Task
   

9. All Nature wears one universal grin.
   To-day it is our pleasure to be drunk;
   And this our queen shall be as drunk as we.—FIELDING, Tom Thumb the Great
   

10. Call things by their right names. . .. Glass of brandy and water! That is the current but not the appropriate name; ask for a glass of liquid fire and distilled damnation.—ROBERT HALL
    

11. Brain and heart
    Alike depart
    From him who worships gin or brandy.—C. G. HALPINE, Holland Gin
    

12. Licker talks mighty loud w'en it gits loose from de jug.—JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS, Plantation Proverbs
    

13. Oh, yer's yer good old whiskey, Drink it down.—BRET HARTE, Two Men of Sandy Bar

14. Teetot'lers seem to die the same as others,
    So what's the use of knocking off the beer?—A. P. HERBERT, The Ladies' Bar

15. Drink not the third glass, which thou canst not tame,
    When once it is within thee.—GEORGE HERBERT, The Church Porch
    

16. "While you live,
    Drink!—for, once dead, you never shall return."—OMAR KHAYYAM, Rubaiyat
    

17. Candy
    Is dandy
    But liquor
    Is quicker.—OGDEN NASH, Reflection on Ice-Breaking
    

18. Not drunk is he who from the floor
    Can rise alone and still drink more;
    But drunk is he, who prostrate lies,
    Without the power to drink or rise.—T. L. PEACOCK, The Misfortunes of Elphin
    

19. Of all meat in the world, drink goes down the best.—Proverb
    

20. A drink is shorter than a tale.—Proverb
    

21. Drunkenness is a pair of spectacles to see the devil and all his works.—Proverb
    

22. When your companions get drunk and fight, take up your hat and wish them good night.—Proverb
    

23. Drunkenness turns a man out of himself, and leaves a beast in his room.—Proverb
    

24. He is not drunk gratis, who pays his reason for his shot.—Proverb
    

25. As drunk as a lord.—Proverb
    

26. O, monstrous! but one half­penny-worth of bread to this intolerable deal of sack!—SHAKESPEARE, Henry IV
    

27. If I had a thousand sons, the first human principle I would teach them should be, to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack.—SHAKESPEARE, Henry IV
    

28. It (drink) provokes the desire, but it takes away the performance.—SHAKESPEARE, Macbeth
    

29. O God! that men should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away their brains!—SHAKESPEARE, Othello
    

30. I have very poor and unhappy brains for drinking.—SHAKESPEARE, Othello
    

31. One draught above heat makes him a fool, the second mads him, and a third drowns him.—SHAKESPEARE, Twelfth Night
    

32. A bumper of good liquor
    Will end a contest quicker
    Than justice, judge, or vicar.—SHERIDAN, The Duenna
    

33. At the punch-bowl's brink
    Let the thirsty think
    What they say in Japan:
    "First the man takes a drink,
    Then the drink takes a drink,
    Then the drink takes the man!"—E. R. SILL, An Adage from the Orient
    

34. A little in drink, but at all times yr. faithfull husband.—SIR RICHARD STEELE, Letter to his wife
    

35. I cannot eat but little meat,
    My stomach is not good;
    But sure I think that I can drink
    With him that wears a hood.—BISHOP STILL, Gammer Gurton's Needle
    

36. There are two things that will be believed of any man whatsoever, and one of them is that he has taken to drink.—TARKINGTON, Penrod
    

37. Drink, pretty creature, drink!—WORDSWORTH, The Pet Lamb
    

38. The word must be spoken that bids you depart—
    Though the effort to speak it should shatter my heart—
    Though in silence, with blighted affection I pine,
    Yet the lips that touch liquor must never touch mine!—G. W. YOUNG, The Lips that Touch Liquor