If a man be discreet enough to take to hard drinking in his youth, before his general emptiness is ascertained, his friends invariably credit him with a host of shining qualities which, we are given to understand, lie balked and frustrated by his one unfortunate weakness.

Agnes Repplier (1855-1950) American writer

“A Plea for Humor,” Points of View (1891)
    (Source)

Offered as a hypothetical sardonic observation by the author William Dean Howells.