Archive

Quotes

A man who exposes himself when he is intoxicated has not the art of getting drunk.

—Samuel Johnson, 1779

An old man is twice a child, and so is a drunken man.

—Plato, c. 360 BC

I used to do drugs. I still do, but I used to, too.

—Mitch Hedberg, 1999

Moderation in all things.

—Terence, 166 BC

Whoever gulps down wine as a horse gulps down water is called a Scythian.

—Athenaeus, c. 230

Drunkenness is the very sepulcher / Of man’s wit and his discretion.

—Geoffrey Chaucer, c. 1390

To live on a day-to-day basis is insufficient for human beings; we need to transcend, transport, escape; we need meaning, understanding, and explanation.

—Oliver Sacks, 2012

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

—Epicurus, c. 300 BC

Some writers take to drink, others take to audiences.

—Gore Vidal, 1981

There was a great deal of drinking among us but little drunkenness. We all seemed to feel that Prohibition was a personal affront and that we had a moral duty to undermine it.

—Elizabeth Anderson, 1969

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

—Benjamin Franklin, 1749

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

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1832

Sobriety diminishes, discriminates, and says no; drunkenness expands, unites, and says yes.

—William James, 1902