Samuel Johnson Drinking Quotations

Wine gives a man nothing... it only puts in motion what had been locked up in frost.

One of the disadvantages of wine is that it makes a man mistake words for thoughts.

Wine makes a man more pleased with himself; I do not say it makes him more pleasing to others.

Melancholy, indeed, should be diverted by every means but drinking.

There are some sluggish men who are improved by drinking; as there are fruits that are not good until they are rotten.

Sir, I have no objection to a man's drinking wine, if he can do it in moderation. I found myself apt to go to excess in it, and therefore, after having been for some time without it, on account of illness, I thought it better not to return to it. Every man is to judge for himself, according to the effects which he experiences.

That all who are happy are equally happy is not true. A peasant and a philosopher may be equally satisfied, but not equally happy. A small drinking glass and a large one may be equally full, but the large one holds more than the small.

Wine gives a man nothing. It neither gives him knowledge nor wit; it only animates a man, and enables him to bring out what a dread of the company has repressed. It only puts in motion what had been locked up in frost.

Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence.