Quotations: Drink

In the past and at my lowest ebbs I used to think that maybe drink had destroyed my life, but that was dramatic nonsense and temporary gloom. Without alcohol I could have been a shop-assistant, a business executive or a lone bachelor bank clerk. But why pick on bank clerks? The side effects and the spin-offs produced by my chosen anaesthetic have at least produced a few wonderful dreams that turned out to be reality. Even the hang-over from the nightmare contains some sweet nostalgia.

Drink is in itself a good creature of God, and to be received with thankfulness.

And malt does more than Milton can
To justify God's ways to man.

Never trust a bastard that doesn't drink.

I know where Men can still be found,
Anger and clamorous accord,
And virtues growing from the ground,
And fellowship of beer and board,
And song, that is a sturdy cord,
And hope, that is a hardy shrub,
And goodness, that is God's last word--
Will someone take me to a pub?

Landlord, fill the flowing bowl until it doth run over!
For tonight we'll merry merry be--tomorrow we'll get sober!
The man who drinks good whiskey punch and goes to bed right mellow
Lives as he ought to live--and dies a jolly good fellow!
The man who drinks cold water pure and goes to bed quite sober
Falls as the leaves do fall--so early in October!
But he who drinks just what he likes and getteth half-seas over
Will live until he dies perhaps--and then lie down in clover!

No good poetry was ever written by a drinker of water.