British composer (1745–1814)
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Bring in the bottled lightning, a clean tumbler, and a corkscrew.
Nicholas Nickleby (1838)
Charles Dickens, English writer and social critic (1812–1870)
•
We are fighting Germany, Austria and drink, and so far as I can see the greatest of these deadly foes is drink.
[Speech at Bangor, 1915]
David Lloyd George, prime minister of the UK (1863–1945)
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I feel sorry for people who don’t drink. When they wake up in the morning, that’s the best they are going to feel all day.
Dean Martin, American singer and actor (1917–1995)
•
One whisky is all right; two is too much; three is too few.
A Taste of Scotch (1989)
Derek Cooper, British journalist and broadcaster (1925–2014)
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Come quickly, I am tasting stars!
[On discovering he had created champagne]
Dom Perignon, French Benedictine monk (1638–1715)
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An alcoholic is someone you don’t like who drinks as much as you do.
Dylan Thomas, Welsh writer (1914–1953)
•
To eat figs off the tree in the very early morning, when they have been barely touched by the sun, is one of the exquisite pleasures of the Mediterranean.
Italian Food (1954)
Elizabeth David, British cookery writer (1913–1992)
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Great eaters of meat are in general more cruel and ferocious than other men. The English are known for their cruelty.
Émile (1762)
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Genevan philosopher (1712–1778)
•
Food is an important part of a balanced diet.
Metropolitan Life (1978)
Fran Lebowitz, American writer and public speaker (1950–)
•
A cheerful look makes a dish a feast.
Jacula Prudentum (1640)
George Herbert, Welsh-born poet and priest (1593–1633)
•
Man cannot live by bread alone; he must have peanut butter.
[Inaugural address, 1881]
James A Garfield, 20th president of the US (1831–1881)
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I saw him even now going the way of all flesh, that is to say towards the kitchen.
Westward Hoe (1607)
John Webster, English dramatist (c. 1580–1634)
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Coffee is a cold dry food, suited to the ascetic life and sedative of lust.
Katib Chelebi, Ottoman scholar (1609–1657)
•
All my life I have been a very thirsty person.
The Sunday Times (2001)
Keith Floyd, British cook, restaurateur and television personality (1943–2009)
•
The noblest of all dogs is the hot-dog; it feeds the hand that bites it.
Quotations for Our Time (1977)
Laurence J Peter, Canadian educator (1919–1990)
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Good mashed potato is one of the great luxuries of life and I don’t blame Elvis for eating it every night for the last year of his life.
In Praise of the Potato (1989)
Lindsey Bareham, British cookery writer
Now, gentlemen, let us do something today which the world may talk of hereafter.
Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood, admiral of the Royal Navy (1748–1810)
•
We have to do the best we can. This is our sacred human responsibility.
Albert Einstein, German theoretical physicist (1879–1955)
•
Come, my friends. ’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Ulysses (1833)
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, English poet (1809–1892)
•
One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight, for a very long time, of the shore.
Les faux-monnayeurs (1925)
André Gide, French writer (1869–1951)
•
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, French writer (1900–1944)
•
Nurture your minds with great thoughts; to believe in the heroic makes heroes.
Benjamin Disraeli, prime minister of the UK (1804–1881)
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We are not creatures of circumstance; we are creators of circumstance.
Benjamin Disraeli, prime minister of the UK (1804–1881)
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There comes a time in a man’s life when to get where he has to go — if there are no doors or windows — he walks through a wall.
Rembrandt’s Hat (1972)
Bernard Malamud, American writer (1914–1986)
•
By prevailing over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination.
Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer (1451–1506)
•
In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.
Dalai Lama, Tibetan monk of the Gelug school (1935–)
•
Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.
Against Leptines (c. 385/4 BC)
Demosthenes, Greek orator and Athenian statesman (c. 384–322 BC)
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Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.
Edmund Burke,