One of my father’s favorite books has always been Bartlett’s
Familiar Quotations. Now in its 17th edition, this book was first
published back in 1855. John Bartlett was a bookseller who wanted
to create a book of prose and quotes, which he described as
”
an attempt to trace to their source passages and phrases in
common use.
”
One of my father’s favorite books has always been Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations. Now in its 17th edition, this book was first published back in 1855. John Bartlett was a bookseller who wanted to create a book of prose and quotes, which he described as “an attempt to trace to their source passages and phrases in common use.”
Many sayings from traditional and nontraditional sources such as movies and television, have been added since.
My father would use his own quotes, or often times those from Bartlett’s, to share instruction on how to get along in life. The most popular ones he used were those that mirrored his wish of having us obey and believe everything our parents would tell us.
This source is also good for the toastmaster, the person who wants to add panache to a dinner gathering or a place where wine is shared. I perused Bartlett’s and the Internet to find a few quotes on wine that I found meaningful and amusing:
– “Wine is the most civilized thing in the world.” – Ernest Hemingway
– “I cook with wine; sometimes I even add it to food.” – W.C. Fields
– “Wine cheers the sad, revives the old, inspires the young and makes weariness forget his toil.” – Lord Byron
– “My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne.” – John Maynard Keynes
– “Wine – the intellectual part of the meal.” – Alexander Dumas
– “When it comes to wine, I tell people to throw away the vintage charts and invest in a corkscrew. The best way to learn about wine is the drinking.” – Alexis Lichine
– “Wine makes a man more pleased with himself; I do not say it makes him more pleasing to others.” – Samuel Johnson
– “I love everything that’s old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wine.” – Oliver Goldsmith
– “Making wine is like having children; you love them all, but boy, are they different.” – Bunny Finkelstein
– “Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried – with fewer tensions and more tolerance.” – Benjamin Franklin
– “Wine improves with age. The older I get, the better I like it.” – Anonymous
– “If food is the body of good living, wine is its soul.” – Clifton Fadiman
– “And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard.” – Genesis 9:20
– “My dear girl, there are some things that are just not done, such as drinking Dom Perignon ’53 above the temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit.” – James Bond in “Goldfinger”
– “We could in the United States make as great a variety of wines as are made in Europe, not exactly the same kinds, but doubtless as good.” – Thomas Jefferson
– “I know never to take wine for granted. Drawing a cork is like attendance at a concert or play that one knows well, when there is all the uncertainty of no two performances ever being quite the same. That is why the French say, ‘There are no good wines, only good bottles.'” – Gerald Asher
– “Clearly, the pleasures wines afford are transitory, but so are those of the ballet or of a musical performance. Wine is inspiring and adds greatly to the joy of living.” – Napoleon
– A man, fallen on hard times, sold his art collection but kept his wine cellar. When asked why he did not sell his wine, he said, “A man can live without art, but not without culture.” – Anonymous
– Drinking good wine with good food in good company is one of life’s most civilized pleasures.” – Michael Broadbent
– “It takes a lot of beer to make good wine.” – Lou Preston, Preston Vineyards
– Filmmaker and winemaker Francis Ford Coppola says, “The two professions are almost the same. Each depends on source material and takes a lot of time to perfect. The big difference is that today’s winemakers still worry about quality.”
– “Life is too short to drink bad wine.” – Anonymous
My father’s favorite quote, if you are wondering, did not mention wine, but it has stuck with me as a positive way to look at everything in life. It comes from Grantland Rice, one of the first great sportswriters:
“For when the One Great Scorer comes
To write against your name’
He marks – not that you won or lost –
But how you played the game.”
Cheers!
