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Top 20 Drinking Quotes of All Time

by Jenny An on Sep 3, 2013 in Culture
Top 20 Drinking Quotes of All Time

Writers and musicians have a long, storied history with alcohol, and that intimacy with the bottle shows through in the memorable lines these artists have dropped over the years. Check out our picks for the top 20 quotes about drinking. Did your favorite make the list?

1) “Drinking is an emotional thing. It joggles you out of the standardism of everyday life, out of everything being the same. It yanks you out of your body and your mind and throws you against the wall. I have the feeling that drinking is a form of suicide where you're allowed to return to life and begin all over the next day." — Charles Bukowski

2) “I drink to make other people more interesting.” ― Ernest Hemingway 

3) “In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.” ― Benjamin Franklin 

4) “After the first glass, you see things as you wish they were. After the second, you see things as they are not. Finally, you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world.” ― Oscar Wilde

5) “For art to exist, for any sort of aesthetic activity or perception to exist, a certain physiological precondition is indispensable: intoxication.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche

6) “There comes a time in every woman's life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne.” ― Bette Davis

7) “To alcohol! The cause of and solution to all of life's problems." ―  The Simpsons

8) “Candy is dandy, but liquor is quicker.” ― Ogden Nash

9) “One sip of this will bathe the drooping spirits in delight, beyond the bliss of dreams.” ― John Milton

10) “Reality is an illusion created by a lack of alcohol.” — N.F. Simpson

11) “Sometimes when I reflect back on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn’t drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than to be selfish and worry about my liver.” — Jack Handey

12) “When I drink, I think; and when I think, I drink.” — Frantois Rabelais

13) “Time is never wasted when you’re wasted all the time.” — Catherine Zandonella

14) "Wine is bottled poetry." — Robert Louis Stevenson

15) "I think a man ought to get drunk at least twice a year just on principle, so he won't let himself get snotty about it." — Raymond Chandler

16) "It is most absurdly said, in popular language, of any man, that he is disguised in liquor; for, on the contrary, most men are disguised by sobriety." — Thomas de Quincy

17) "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." — H.L. Mencken

18) "Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer.  Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza." — Dave Barry

19) "Champagne, if you are seeking the truth, is better than a lie detector.  It encourages a man to be expansive, even reckless, while lie detectors are only a challenge to tell lies successfully." — Graham Greene

20) "Wine is sunlight, held together by water." — Galileo

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