Wine, beer, and spirits quotes - Part 1

Good wine needs neither bush nor preface to make it welcome. and

A glass of good wine is a gracious creature, and reconciles poor mortality to itself, and that is what few things can do. and

The juice of the grape is given to him that will use it wisely, as that which cheers the heart of man after toil, refreshes him in sickness and comforts him in sorrow. He who so enjoyeth it may thank God for hii wine-cup as for his daily bread; and he who abuseth the gift fo heaven is not greater fool in his intoxication than thou in thine abstinence. and

They carv'd at the meal
with gloves of steel

And they drank the red wine through the helmet barr'd.

SIR WALTER SCOTT

I rejoice, as a moralist, at the prospect of the reduction of duties on wine, by our national legislature. It is an error to view a tax on that liquor as merely a tax on the rich. It is a prohibition of its use to the middling class of our citizens, and a condemnation of them to the poison of whiskey, which is desolating their houses. No nation is drunken where wine is cheap; and none sober, where the dearness of wine substitutes ardent spirits as the common beverage. It is, in truth, the only antidote to the bain of whiskey.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

By comparing what we know today with what the ancients appear to have known we can guess at the kinds of wine they drank.

ALEC WAUGH

Wherefore by their fruits shall ye know them.

MATTHEW 7:20

No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.

EPICTETUS

'I rather like bad wine' said Mr. Mountchesney; 'one gets so bored with good wine.' Sybil

BENJAMIN DISRAELI, EARL OF BEACONSFIELD

Where the telescope ends the microscope begins. Which of the two has the grander view?

VICTOR HUGO

Wine is made to be drunk as women are made to be loved; profit by the freshness of youth of the splendor of maturity; do not await decrepitude.

THEOPHILE MALVEZIN

We went to see a hermit in the mountain. Hs is plain and jovial. He lives on a handful of rice. The water in the spring contents him. And yet he has kept his cup of wine.

LI PO

While Champagne in close array, Pride of Reims and Epernay; not bottles but in dozens (Think of that ye country cousins!), stood, of every growth and price, pepping forth its tub of ice.

HENRY LUTTRELL

The spirit of wine sang in my glass, and I listened with love to his sonorous music, his flushed and magnificent song

WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY

There are people who have been known to prefer bad wine to good, just as there are men who are fascinated by bad women. and

Civilization without wine is unthinkable. and

Drink good wines habitually and fine wine occasionally.

ANDRE L. SIMON

Offered a glass of Chambertin (1945)...I would consider I had acquited myself very creditably, if I were able to say, "It is a Burgundy, I think it is a good one, but I think it is a little old."

ALEC WAUGH

...The rapturous, wild, and ineffable pleasure of drinking at someone else's expense.

HENRY SAMBROOK LEIGH

Sparkling and bright in the liquid light does the wine our goblets gleam in; with hue as red as the rosy bed which a bee would choose to dream in.

CHARLES FENNO HOFFMAN

Very good in its way is the Verzenay, or the Sillery soft and creamy; but Catawba wine has a taste more divine, more dulcet, more delicious, and dreamy.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

When they were good (wines) they pleased my sense, cheered my spirits, improved my moral and intellectual powers, besides enabling me to confer the same benefits on other people. and

Until I was nearly forty such liquids as I possessed had to endure very inferior accomodations.

GEORGE SAINTSBURY

The Persians are accustomed to deliberate on matters of the highest moment when warm with wine...Whatever also they discuss when sober, is always a second time examined after they have been drinking.

HERODOTUS

Dead Lucre; burnt Ambition: Wine is Best. and

It is true that taste can be educated. It is also true that taste can be perverted...If any man gives you a wine you can't bear, don't say it is beastly...But don't say you like it. You are endangering your soul and the use of wine as well...seek out some other wine good to your taste. and

To praise, revere, established and depend;

To welcome home mankind's mysterious friend;

Wine, true begetter of all arts that be;

Wine, privilege of the completely free;

Wine, the foundation, wine sagely strong;

Wine, bright avenger of sly-dealing wrong

HILLAIRE BELLOC

What though youth gave love and roses, age still leaves us friends and wine.

THOMAS MOORE

Burgundy for Kings, Champagne for Duchesses, and claret for Gentlemen.

FRENCH PROVERB

Go and fetch a pint of Port. But let it not be such as that you set before chance-comers, but such whose father-grape grew fat on Lusitanian summers.

ALFRED TENNYSON

Alcohol, if taken in sufficient quantities, can give one the illusion of drunkenness.

OSCAR WILDE

Corn shall make young men cheerful and new wine the maids.

ZECHARIAH

May our love be like good wine, grow stronger as it grows older.

OLD ENGLISH TOAST

If God forbade drinking, would he have made wine so good?

ARMAND CARDINAL RICHELIEU

One that hath wine as a chain about his wits, such a one lives no life at all.

DEMETRIUS

Age appears to be best in four things--old wood best to burn, old wine to drink, old friends to trust, and old authors to read.

L. BACON

No animal ever invented anything as bad as drunkenness - or as good as drink. and

And Noah he often said to his wife when he sat down to dine, "I don't care where the water goes if it doesn't get into the wine!"

G.K.CHESTERTON

The conscious water saw its God and blushed.

RICHARD CRASHAW

When asked what wine he liked to drink, he replied, "That which belongs to another."

DIOGENES LAERTIUS

While wine and friendship crown the board, we'll sing the joys that both afford; and he that won't with us comply, down among the dead men let him lie.

JOHN DYER

Some of the most dreadful mischiefs that afflict mankind proceed from wine. It is the cause of disease, quarrels, sedition, idleness, aversion to labor, and every species of domestic disorder.

FRANCOIS DE SALIGNAC DE LA MOTHE FENELON

From wine what sudden friendship springs! and

Old wine is a true panacea for every conceiveable ill, when you cherish the soothing idea, that somebody else pays the bill. and

From wine what sudden friendship springs and

Fill every glass, for Wine inspires us

And fires us

With courage, Love and Joy.

JOHN GAY, ENGLISH POET AND DRAMATIST (1685-1732)

Fill every beaker up, my men, pour forth the cheering wine: there's life and strength in every drop, thanksgiving to the vine!

ALBERT GORTON GREENE

God made the vine, was it a sin, that man made wine to drown trouble in? and

The bubble winked at me and said,

"You'll miss me brother, when you're dead."

OLIVER HERFORD

Drink to me only with thine eyes and I will pledge with mine; or leave a kiss but in the cup, and I'll not look for wine.

BEN JOHNSON

No longer are her invitations sought and fought for eagerly, her parties once so popular are now attended meagerly; a blunder unforgivable made life no longer livable, for she served the sparkling burgundy in glasses made for port.

NEWMAN LEVY

I drank at every vine, the last was like the first. I came upon no wine so wonderful as thirst.

EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY

When night darkens the streets, then wander forth the sons of Belial, flown with insolence and wine.

and

Bacchus, that first from out the purple grape crushed the sweet poison of misused wine. and

Wine, one sip of this will bathe the drooping spirits in delight beyond the bliss of dreams. Be wise and taste.

JOHN MILTON

Bring me flesh and bring me wine, and bring me pine-logs hither.

JOHN MASON NEALE

Seamen three, what men be ye? Gotham's three wise men we be. Whither in your bowl so free? To rake the moon form out the sea. The bowl goes trim. The moon doth shine. And our ballast is old wine.

THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK

It has become commonplace proverb that in wine there is truth.

PLINY THE ELDER

To happy convents, bosom'd deep in vines, where slumber abbots purple as their wines. and

Inflaming wine, pernicious to mankind.

ALEXANDER POPE

When the wine goes in strange things come out.

SCHILLER

A cup of hot wine not a drop of allaying Tiber in't. and

Give me a bowl of wine,

In this I bury all unkindness. (Julius Caesar) and

Give me a bowl of wine:

I have not that alacrity of spirit,

Nor cheer of mind, that I was wont to have. (Richard III). and

Wine is a good familiar creature if it be will used, exclaim no more against it...(Othello) and

A man cannot make him laugh - but that is no marvel; he drinks no wine. and

The wine of life is drawn, and the mere lees is left this vault to brag of. and

Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well-used. and

Good wine needs no bush. and

Come, thou monarch of the vine, Plumpy Bacchus with pink eye. and

There's none of these demure boys come to any proof; for thin drink doth so overcool their blood...that they fall into a kind of male green sickness; and when they marry they get wenches...If I had a thousand sons, the first human principle I would teach them should be, to forswear thin potations and addict themselves to sack.

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

Into a crystal cup the dusky wine, I pour , and musing at so rich a shrine, I watch the star the haunts its ruddy gloom.

GEORGE STERLING

Venus rose red out of wine.

ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE

Wine is wont to show the mind of man.

THEOGENIS

With years a richer life begins, the spirit mellow: ripe age gives tones to violins, wine, and good fellows.

JOHN TOWNSEND TROWBRIDGE

Wine that was split in haste arising in fumes more precious.

ARTHUR UPSON

My cup runneth over.

PSALMS XXIII 5

Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup;...at the last biteth like serpent, and stingeth like the adder.

PROVERBS XXIII 31-32

Drink no longer water but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake.

1 TIMOTHY V, 23

To treat the poor wretch with a bottle of burgundy, and fill his snuffbox, is like giving a pair of laced ruffles to a man that has never a shirt on his back.

THOMAS (TOM) BROWN

Burgundy was the winiest wine, the central, essential, and typical wine, the soul and greatest common measure of all the kindly wines of the earth.

CHARLES EDWARD MONTAGUE

Claret is the liquor for boys, port for men; but he who aspires to be a hero must drink brandy.

SAMUEL JOHNSON

These traitorous thieves accursed and unfair, the vintners that put water in our wine.

FRANCOIS VILLON

I may not here omit those two main plagues and common dotages of human kind, wine and women, which have infatuated and besotted myriads of people; they go commonly together.

ROBERT BURTON

Let us have wine, women, mirth and laughter, sermons and soda water the day after.

LORD BYRON

Who does not love wine, women, and song, remains a fool his whole life long.

JOHANN HEINRICH VOSS (or) MARTIN LUTHER

Wine and women will make men of understanding to fall away.

THE APOCRYPHA XIX 2

I like Champagne, because it always tastes as though my foot's asleep.

ART BUCHWALD

Vines love an open hill.

VIRGIL

A person with increasing knowledge and sensory education may derive infinite enjoyment from wine. and

Wine is one of th most civilized thing in the world and one of the natural things of the world that has been brought to the greatest perfection, and it offers a greater range for enjoyment and appreciateion than possibly any other purely sensory thing which may be purchased. and

This wine is too good for toast-drinking, my dear. You don't want to mix emotions up with a wine like that. You lose the taste. (From "The Sun Also Rises," Count ippipopolous to Brett) and

An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools. and

Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY

Wine is a food. and

Among the great whom heaven has made to shine

How few have learned the are of arts--to dine. and

I give you one health in the juice of the vine,

The blood of the vineyard shall mingle with mine;

Thus let us drain the last dew drop of gold,

And empty our hearts of the blessings they hold. and

Then a smile and a glass and a toast and a cheer,

For all the good wine, and we've some of it here. and

"Tis nature's law that wine should flow

To wet the lips of friends.

Then once again, before we part

My empty glass shall ring. and

And let the loving cup go round,

The cup with blessed memories crowned. and

'Tis but the fool that loves excess;

Hast thou a drunken soul?

Thy bane is in thy shallow skull,

Not in my silver bowl.

OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES

Wine can be considered with good reason as the most healthful and the most hygienic of all beverages. and

The flavor of wine is like delicate poetry.

LOUIS PASTEUR

Wine is one of the noblest cordials in creation.

JOHN WESLEY

(Champagne) was the only wine that left a woman beautiful after drinking.

MADAME DE POMPADOUR

The sparkling foam of this cool wine is a living image of the French people.

VOLTAIRE

And that you may the less marvel at my words, Look at the sun's heat that becomes wine when combine with the juice that flows from the vine.

DANTE ALIGHIERI

Neither do men put new wine into old bottles.

GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

To take wine into our mouths is to savor a droplet of the river history. and

The plain fact is that wine has character. It is not a dead matter, like a motorcar, but a live thing like a human being or a page of fine prose. and

If the keynote of the literature of food is gusto, that of the literature of wine is delicacy or discrimination. and

If food is the body of good living, wine is its soul. and

The drinking of wine seems to me to have a moral edge over many pleasures and hobbies in that it promotes love of one's neighbor. and

Wine is alive and when you offer it to your fellow-man you are offering him life. That is why there are few better gifts to send than a case or two--or a bottle or two--of wine. It is not that when drinking it, they will recall the donor--if you crave such vulgar satisfactions, it is more efficient to send them a chair with a pair of spurs set in the upholstery. It is that, when drinking it, they will become more conscious of themselves, of their own capacity for joy. and

name me any liquid--except our own blood--that flows more intimately and incessantly through the labyrinth of symbols we have conceived to make our status as human beings, from the rudest peasant wine into our mouths is to save a droplet of the river of humanity.

CLIFTON FADIMAN

One not only drinks the wine, one smells it, observes it, tastes it, sips it and--one talks about it.

KING EDWARD VII

He was a wise man who invented beer. and

Nothing more excellent or valuable than wine was ever granted by the gods to man. and

What is better adapted than the festive use of wine in the first place to test and in the second place to train the character of a man, if care be taken in the use of it? What is there cheaper or more innocent. and

When a man drinks wine at dinner, he begins to be better pleased with himself. and

A remedy for the moroseness of old age.and

Wine fills the heart with courage.

PLATO

Wine improves with age - I like it the older I get.

ANONYMOUS

Beer is made by men, wine by God!

MARTIN LUTHER

He causeth the grass to grow for cattle, and herb for the service of man; that He may bring forth food out of the earth; and wine that maketh glad the heart of man...

PSALMS 104:14

Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart.

ECCLESIASTES

Wine is sunlight, held together by water!

GALILEO GALLILEI

Claret..Really 'tis so fine--it fills one's mouth with a gushing freshness--then goes down cool and feverless...and lies as quiet as it did in the grape'. Then, it is as fragrant as the queen bee, and the more ethereal part of it mount into the brain. and

No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine. Ode to Melancholy

JOHN KEATS

Away with you, water, destruction of wine!

CATULLUS

In vino veritas.

ANONYMOUS

Comrades, pour the wine to-night for the parting is with dawn! Oh, the clink of cups together, with the daylight coming on!

RICHARD HOVEY

Drink wine in winter for cold, and in Summer for heat.

ANONYMOUS

Where there is no wine there is no love.

EURIPIDES

New loves and old wine, give a man these and he never refines.

FRANCIS BEEDING

Wine is at the head of all medicines; where wine is lacking, drugs are necessary.

TALMUD

A full cup of wine at the right time is worth more than all the kingdoms of this earth!

FROM GUSTAV MAHLER, DAS LIED VON DER ERDE

There is no gladness without wine.

BABYLONIAN TALMUD

Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance.

EPICURUS

The Gods made wine the best thing for moral man to scatter cares.

STASINUS OF CYPRUS

A drunkard and a prohibitionist amount to the same thing.

ANONYMOUS

Good wine is a good familiar creature if it be well used.

OTHELLO

How is Chmpagne made? By sheer genius, sir, sheer genius!

ANONYMOUS--CONVERSATION AT WHITE'S CLUB, LONDON

And how's this for a description of the perfect wine? "It's like the perfect wife--it looks nice and is nice, natural, wholesome, yet not assertive; gracious and dependable, but never monotonous."

ANONYMOUS

When wine enlivens the heart May friendship surround the table.

ANONYMOUS

There is no sounder purchases for a tired and depressed man than a bottle of good Burgundy.

ANONYMOUS

Sunbeams condensed from Nature's Holy Shrine Are gently housed in every drop of wine.

ANONYMOUS

Nothing equals the joy of the drinker except the joy of the wine being drunk.

ANONYMOUS

Description of a corkscrew:...the winelover's best friend and the rarest of tools.

ANONYMOUS

This wine, petillant and clear,

Soothes our sense, and calms our fear;

When in joy we tap the cask

All our dreams bring what we ask.

Drink it! Drink it! Kindly Friend,

Then our cares will swiftly end,

Drink to you, then drink to me,

Pledge our dual prosperity.

ANONYMOUS--OLD FRENCH POEM

"Marsala"

Velvety brown and bitter-sweet

a thimbleful cupped on the tongue

swelling in the mouth like the nipple of Pomona *

* Roman goddess of fruit

WILLIAM FAHEY (AMERICAN: 1923--)