WIST Quotations

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1876-12 (1876 ed.)

Dave — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 18:06:09 +0000

Whiskey makes a grate menny wize men to day, and phools tommorow.

[Whiskey makes a great many wise men today, and fools tomorrow.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings’ Farmer’s Allminax, 1876-12 (1876 ed.)
(Source)

Billings, Josh -- Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things, ch. 61 “Milk, Whiskee and Beer” (1868)

Dave — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 20:13:34 +0000

But since whiskee haz got into this world, I don’t think it kan be got out, enny more than small pox kan, but it kan be made komparitively harmless, in the same way, and only in the same way, and that iz by constant vaccination.

[But since whiskey has gotten into this world, I don’t think it can be gotten out, any more than smallpox can, but it can be made comparatively harmless, in the same way, and only in the same way, and that is by constant vaccination.]

Josh Billings (1818-1885) American humorist, aphorist [pseud. of Henry Wheeler Shaw]
Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things, ch. 61 “Milk, Whiskee and Beer” (1868)
(Source)

Jefferson, Thomas -- Letter (1816-01-06) to Charles Yancey

Dave — Thu, 06 Nov 2014 12:57:37 +0000

I wish to see this beverage become common instead of the whisky which kills one-third of our citizens and ruins their families.

Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)
Letter (1816-01-06) to Charles Yancey
(Source)

On beer.