Analcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol — although inchemistry the definition of alcohol includes many other compounds. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes:beers,wines, andspirits.
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, Oxford Book of Seventeenth Century Verse, H. J. C. Grierson and G. Bullough, eds. (1934) Oxford University Press.
Fill up the goblet and reach to me some! Drinking makes wise, but dry fasting makes glum.
William R. Alger, "Wine Song of Kaitmas",Poetry of the Orient (1865), p. 161.
No substance in nature, as far as yet known, has, when it reaches the brain, such power to induce mental and moral changes of a disastrous character as alcohol. Its transforming power is marvelous, and often appalling. It seems to open a way of entrance into the soul for all classes of foolish, insane or malignant spirits, who, so long as it remains in contact with the brain, are able to hold possession.
Timothy Shay Arthur,Grappling with the Monster; Or, The Curse and the Cure of Strong Drink (1877), Ch. 4.
Or merry swains, who quaff the nut-brown ale, And sing enamour'd of the nut-brown maid.
James Beattie,The Minstrel (1771), Book I, Stanza 44.
Nose, nose, jolly red nose, And who gave thee that jolly red nose? Nutmegs and ginger, cinammon and cloves; And they gave me this jolly red nose.
Francis Beaumont,The Knight of the Burning Pestle (c. 1607; published 1613), Act I, scene 4.
"Nose, nose, nose, nose! And who gave you that jolly red nose! Sinamont and ginger, nutmegs and cloves, And that gave me my jolly red nose!"
Version of the above in Ravencroft'sDeuteromela (1609).
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!
BRANDY, n. A cordial composed of one part thunder-and-lightning, one part remorse, two parts bloody murder, one part death-hell-and-the-grave and four parts clarifiedSatan. Dose, a headful all the time. Brandy is said by Dr. Johnson to be the drink of heroes. Only a hero will venture to drink it.
He saw Hawks, grunted, hefted the bottle and said, “I hate the stuff. It tastes lousy, it makes me gag, it stinks, and it burns my mouth. But they keep putting it in your hands, and they keep saying ‘Drink up!’ to each other, and ‘What’s the matter, Charlie, falling a little behind, there? Freshen up that little drinkee for you?” Until you feel like a queer of some kind, and a bore for the times you say you don’t want another one, positively. And they fill their folklore with it, until you wouldn’t dream you were having a good time unless you’d swilled enough of the stuff to poison yourself all the next day. And they talk gentleman talk about it—ages and flavors and brands and blends, as if it wasn’t all ethanol in one concentration or another. Have you ever heard twoMartini drinkers in a bar, Hawks? Have you ever heard two shamans swapping magic?”
Variants (ll. 3–4): Not Frankfort berries yield the sense Such a delicious whirl. —Springfield Daily Republican (4 May 1861) Not all the vats upon the Rhine Yield such an alcohol! —Poems: First Series (1890)
A man who doesn't drink is not, in my opinion, fully a man.
Anton Chekhov (1860-1904), Russian author, playwright. Letter, 8 May 1895, to N.A. Leikin.Complete Works and Letters in Thirty Volumes,Letters, vol. 6, p. 59, "Nauka" (1976).
After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from theUnited States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited.
The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by theprohibition law. For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land than passing laws which cannot be enforced. It is an open secret that the dangerous increase of crime in this country is closely connected with this.
Well I ain't seen my baby since I don't know when, I've been drinking bourbon whiskey, scotch and gin Gonna get high man I'm gonna get loose, Need me a triple shot of that juice Gonna get drunk don't you have no fear I want one bourbon, one scotch and one beer One bourbon, one scotch, one beer.
The sway of alcohol over mankind is unquestionably due to its power to stimulate the mystical faculties of human nature.
William James,Varieties of Religious Experience, Chapter: Mysticism.
“Did God set grapes a-growing, do you think, And at the same time make it sin to drink? Give thanks to HIM who foreordained it thus— Surely HE loves to hear the glasses clink!”
The last time I seen my father, he was blind in the cedars from drinking. And every time he put the bottle to his mouth, he don't suck out of it, it sucks out of him...
Whenalchemists first learned how to distill spirits, they called itaqua vitae, the water of life, and far from considering it the work of the devil, they thought the discovery was divinely inspired.
The harsh, useful things of the world, from pulling teeth to digging potatoes, are best done by men who are as starkly sober as so many convicts in the death-house, but the lovely and useless things, the charming and exhilarating things, are best done by men with, as the phrase is, a few sheets in the wind.
How many alcohol relateddeaths a year? 100,000? That's, what, 270 a day?Tragedy. How manyfirearms related deaths a year? 11,000? That comes out to a measly 30 a day!
In man, social intercourse has centred mainly on the process of absorbing fluid into the organism, but in the domestic dog and to a lesser extent among all wild canine species, the act charged with most social significance is the excretion of fluid.
Thehorse and mule live thirty years And nothing know ofwines andbeers; Thegoat andsheep at twenty die, With never a taste ofscotch orrye; Thecow drinkswater by the ton, And at eighteen is mostly done. Without the aid ofrum orgin Thedog at fifteen cashes in; Thecat inmilk and water soaks, And then at twelve years old it croaks; The modest, sober, bone-dryhen Layseggs for nogs and dies at ten; Allanimals are strictly dry; They sinless live and swiftly die, While sinful, gleeful, rum-soaked men Survive for three score years and ten. And some of us - a mighty few - Stay pickled 'till we're ninety-two.
Attributed toHarlan F. Stone; reported in Alpheus Thomas Mason,Harlan Fiske Stone, Pillar of the Law (1956), p. 731.
There are two things that will be believed of any man whatsoever, and one of them is that he has taken to drink.
Booth Tarkington (1869-1946), U.S. author.Penrod, Ch. 10 (1914).
Of the demonstrably wise there are but two: those who commit suicide, and those who keep their reasoning faculties atrophied by drink.
Some writers take to drink, others take to audiences.
Gore Vidal (b. 1925), U.S. novelist. First published in the Paris Review (1981). Interview Reprinted in,Writers at Work, Fifth Series.
"They question thee about strong drink and games of chance. Say: In both is great sin, and (some) utility for men; but the sin of them is greater than their usefulness."
Geoffrey Chaucer,Canterbury Tales, The Milleres Tale, line 3,497.
If you are invited to drink at any man's house more than you think is wholesome, you may say "you wish you could, but so little makes you both drunk and sick; that you should only be bad company by doing so."
I Corinthians, XV. 32. Isaiah, XXII. 13. Convivæ certe tui dicunt, Bibamus moriendum est.Seneca the Younger, Controv, XIV.
Nothing in Nature's sober found, But an eternal Health goes round. Fill up the Bowl then, fill it high— Fill all the Glasses there; for why Should every Creature Drink but I? Why, Man of Morals, tell me why?
The thirsty Earth soaks up the Rain, And drinks, and gapes for Drink again; The Plants suck in the Earth and are With constant Drinking fresh and fair.
Let the farmer praise his grounds, Let the huntsman praise his hounds, The shepherd his dew scented lawn, But I more blessed than they, Spend each happy night and day With my charming little cruiskeen lan, lan, lan.
"Wery good power o' suction, Sammy," said Mr. Weller the elder…. "You'd ha' made an uncommon fine oyster, Sammy, if you'd been born in that station o' life."
Landlord fill the flowing bowl Until it doth run over: For to-night we'll merry be To-morrow we'll be sober.
Version of Fletcher's song in Three Jolly Postboys. (18th century song).
Drink to-day, and drown all sorrow; You shall perhaps not do it to-morrow.
John Fletcher, The Bloody Brother. Song, Act II, scene 2.
Tell me I hate the bowl? Hate is a feeble word; I loathe, abhor—my very soul and strong disgust is stirred Whene'er I see or hear or tell of the dark beverage of hell.
Attributed to John B. Gough; denied by him.
It's a long time between drinks.
The Governor of South Carolina required the return of a fugitive slave. The Governor of North Carolina hesitated because of powerful friends of the fugitive. He gave a banquet to his official brother. The Governor of South Carolina in a speech demanded the return of the slave and ended with "What do you say?" The Governor of North Carolina replied as above. It is also attributed to Judge Ædanus Burke.
If you'd dip in such joys, come—the better, the quicker!— But remember the fee—for it suits not my ends To let you make havoc, scot free, with my liquor, As though I wore one of your heavy-pursed friends.
Horace, Book IV. Ode XII. To Vergil. Translation by Theo. Martin.
Well, as he brews, so shall he drink.
Ben Jonson,Every Man in His Humour, Act II, scene 1.
Let those that merely talk and never think, That live in the wild anarchy of drink.
Ben Jonson,Underwoods,An Epistle, answering to One that asked to be sealed of the Tribe of Ben.
Just a wee deoch-an-doris, just a wee yin, that's a'. Just a wee deoch-an-doris before we gang a-wa', There's a wee wifie waitin', in a wee but-an-ben; If you can say "It's a braw bricht moon-licht nicht Y're a 'richt ye ken.
Myrtale often smells of wine, but, wise, With eating bay-leaves thinks it to disguise: So nott with water tempers the wine's heate, But covers it. Henceforth if her you meete With red face and swell'd veynes, modestly say, "Sure Myrtale hath drunk o' th' bayes today?"
Martial,Epigrams (c. 80-104 AD), Book V. 4. Translation in a Manuscript, 16th Century.
Attic honey thickens the nectar-like Falernian. Such drink deserves to be mixed by Ganymede.
Let Nepos place Cæretan wine on table, and you will deem it Setine. But he does not give it to all the world; he drinks it only with a trio of friends.
Martial,Epigrams (c. 80-104 AD), Book XIII, Epistle 124.
Provocarem ad Philippum, inquit, sed sobrium.
I would appeal to Philip, she said, but to Philip sober.
When treading London's well-known ground If e'er I feel my spirits tire, I haul my sail, look up around, In search of Whitbread's best entire.
From, "The Myrtle and the Vine." A Complete Vocal Library. A Pot of Porter, Ho!
Drinking will make a man quaff, Quaffing will make a man sing, Singing will make a man laugh, And laughing long life doth bring, Says old Simon the King.
"Old Sir Simon the King", reported inDurfey's Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy; referring to Simon Wadloe, tavern-keeper at the "Devil," Fleet Street, about 1621.
Drinking will make a man quaff, Quaffing will make a man sing, Singing will make a man laugh, And laughing long life doth bring, Says old Simon the King.
Old Sir Simon the King. Found in Durfey's Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy. Referring to Simon Wadloe, tavern-keeper at the "Devil," Fleet Street, about 1621.
Si bene commemini, causse sunt quinque bibendi; Hospitis adventus, prjesens sitis, atque futura, Aut vini bonitas, aut quaelibet altera causa.
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.
Attributed toPere Sirmond by Menage and De la Monnoye. See Menagiana, Volume I. P. 172. Given in Isaac J. Reeve'sWild Garland, Volume II. Trans by Henry Aldrich.
Back and side go bare, go bare, Both foot and hand go cold; But belly, God send thee good ale enough, Whether it be new or old.
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, Act II. Authorship of the song claimed for William Stevenson of Durham. (Died 1575) In Hutchinson's Songs of the Vine. Said to be found in old Manuscript. See Skelton Works, Volume I. Note to pages VII-X. Dyce's ed. Gammer Gurton's Needle claimed for John Bridges.
Absentem tedit cum ebrio qui litigat.
He hurts the absent who quarrels with a drunken man.
We're gaily yet, we're gaily yet, And we're not very fow, but we're gaily yet; Then set ye awhile, and tipple a bit. For we's not very fow, but we're gaily yet.
Vanbrugh,Provoked Wife, Act III, scene 2. Song — Colonel Bully.
They drink with impunity, or anybody who invites them.
