Marcus Tullius Cicero Quotes

As regards the use of wine, remember that we drink to quench thirst, and that the limit of moderation is reached when the edge of the intellect is dulled. A boy should be brought up to avoid wine…. Your own countrymen, like all northern peoples, are, I know, sore offenders in this matter of eating and drinking. But I count upon your own innate self-respect to preserve you from such bad example, and to enable you to despise the sneers and complaints of those around you.

An American monkey, after getting drunk on brandy, would never touch it again, and thus is much wiser than most men.

All the mistakes I've ever made in my life have been when I've been drunk. I haven't made hardly any mistakes sober, ever, ever.

The point of drinking in moderation is that sometimes you don't drink in moderation.

I drink no more than a sponge.

A drunkard is one thing, and a temperate man is quite another.

There is nothing wrong with sobriety in moderation.

I promise ... to abstain from all kinds of intoxicating drink, unless used medically.

I am not a member of any temperance society; but I am temperate, in this, that I don’t drink anything.

Drunkenness was attacked in the same manner; it was discountenanced on every occasion by those who had charge of any department: its destructive and pernicious effects were frequently stated by his own more prudent comrades, at the proper moment when the individual was soberly suffering from the effects of his previous excess; pot- and public-houses were gradually removed from the immediate vicinity of their dwellings; the health and comfort of temperance were made familiar to them; by degrees drunkenness disappeared, and many who were habitual bacchanalians are now conspicuous for undeviating sobriety.

Physical fitness is a farce without self-control, judgment, and discretion, which are the three qualities of mind first to be dulled by and made incompetent by the use of alcohol

I have a reputation for drinking a lot. Indeed, I drink quite much. However, I give it up when I wish to do so. I never, ever drink while on duty. The drinking is only for my pleasure. I do not remember neglecting my duties because of drinking even once.

I have never been drunk in my life, and I don't expect I ever will be.

something has been said for sobriety but very little.

Be temperate in your drinking, remembering that too much wine cannot keep either a secret or a promise.

I would fain keep sober always; and there are infinite degrees of drunkenness.

A little in drink, but at all times your faithful husband.

I work very hard to keep on an even keel as far as alcohol is concerned.

Regardless of what one's attitude towards prohibition may be, temperance is something against which, at a time of war, no reasonable protest can be made.

I am too much of a control freak to be a drinker.

I never drank except a couple sips of wine at Thanksgiving.

Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian.

So I cut out all the drinkin' and hangin' out and stuff like that early on.

It is best to rise from life as from a banquet, neither thirsty nor drunken.

A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention, and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others.