WIST Quotations

Bengis, Ingrid -- “Monroe According to Mailer: One Legend Feeds on Another,” Ms. (1973-10)

Dave — Fri, 09 Jun 2023 16:27:19 +0000

There are plenty of alcoholics who can be magnificent when drunk: it does not make them any less alcoholic.

Ingrid Bengis (1944–2017) American writer, business person
“Monroe According to Mailer: One Legend Feeds on Another,” Ms. (1973-10)

Reprinted in Michael Lennon, ed., Critical Essays on Norman Mailer (1986).

Walker, Alice -- The Color Purple [Celie] (1982)

Dave — Fri, 26 May 2023 18:30:14 +0000

You know a little drink now and then never hurt nobody, but when you can’t git started without asking the bottle, you in trouble.

Alice Walker (b. 1944) American writer, activist
The Color Purple [Celie] (1982)

Repplier, Agnes -- “A Plea for Humor,” Points of View (1891)

Dave — Sat, 20 May 2023 04:46:26 +0000

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)

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

Rebeta-Burditt, Joyce -- The Cracker Factory, ch. 15 (1977)

Dave — Thu, 17 Aug 2017 01:42:03 +0000

Alcoholism isn’t a spectator sport. Eventually the whole family gets to play.

Joyce Rebeta-Burditt (b. 1938) American writer, television producer
The Cracker Factory, ch. 15 (1977)

Poole, Mary Pettibone -- A Glass Eye at the Keyhole, “No Axe to Grind” (1938)

Dave — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 18:32:03 +0000

Alcohol is a good preservative for everything but brains.

Mary Pettibone Poole (fl. 1930s) American aphorist
A Glass Eye at the Keyhole, “No Axe to Grind” (1938)

McCambridge, Mercedes -- The Quality of Mercy: An Autobiography (1981)

Dave — Wed, 12 Jul 2017 23:39:16 +0000

Alcohol is a very patient drug. It will wait for the alcoholic to pick it up ONE MORE TIME. It will wait forever.

Mercedes McCambridge (1916–2004) American actress
The Quality of Mercy: An Autobiography (1981)

Little, Mary Wilson -- A Paragrapher’s Reveries (1904)

Dave — Wed, 05 Jul 2017 15:58:23 +0000

Almost anything can be preserved in alcohol, except health, happiness, and money.

Mary Wilson Little (fl. c. 1905) American writer
A Paragrapher’s Reveries (1904)

Landers, Ann -- “Ask Ann Landers,” syndicated column (1958)

Dave — Thu, 22 Jun 2017 03:04:47 +0000

You’re trying to drown your sorrows in alcohol and it won’t work. Sorrows know how to swim.

Ann Landers (1918–2002) American advice columnist [pseud. for Eppie Lederer]
“Ask Ann Landers,” syndicated column (1958)

Landers used the phrase multiple times, e.g.,

"And now an added P.S. In these days of political unrest, financial crisis and emotional upheaval, a word to those of you who are trying to drown your sorrow. Please be aware that sorrow knows how to swim." [The Ann Landers Encyclopedia: A to Z (1978)]
"People who drink to drown their sorrow should be told that sorrow knows how to swim."

However, the phrase predates her in a variety of anonymous sources; see here for more discussion.

Jong, Erica -- Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life, ch. 2 (2006)

Dave — Wed, 14 Jun 2017 14:50:22 +0000

I often think of alcohol as a genie in a bottle. It promises everything but eventually imprisons you in the bottle itself.

Erica Jong (b. 1942) American writer, poet
Seducing the Demon: Writing for My Life, ch. 2 (2006)

Tarkington, Booth -- Penrod, ch. 10 (1914)

Dave — Mon, 25 Jan 2016 20:49:23 +0000

Besides, 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) American novelist and dramatist
Penrod, ch. 10 (1914)

Kerr, Jean -- Play (1965), Poor Richard , Act 1

Dave — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 16:33:07 +0000

SYDNEY: A lot of writers drink. Some drink before they write and some drink after they write. The ones that concern me are the ones who drink instead of writing. Even though a number of people have tried, no on has yet found a way to drink for a living.

Jean Kerr (1922–2003) American author and playwright [b. Bridget Jean Collins]
Play (1965), Poor Richard , Act 1

Publilius Syrus -- Sententiae [Moral Sayings]

Dave — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:14:17 +0000

Wine has drowned more than the sea.

Publilius Syrus (d. 42 BC) Assyrian slave, writer, philosopher [less correctly Publius Syrus]
Sententiae [Moral Sayings]

Other translations: "Wine drowns more than the sea." See also Fuller (1723).

Fuller, Thomas (1654) -- Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 5744 (1732)

Dave — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 10:36:18 +0000

Wine hath drowned more Men than the Sea.

Thomas Fuller (1654–1734) English physician, preacher, aphorist, writer
Gnomologia: Adages and Proverbs (compiler), # 5744 (1732)

See Publilius Syrus.