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Eating: Quotations from Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations
The poor man will praise it so hath he good cause, That all the year eats neither partridge nor quail, But sets up his rest and makes up his feast, With a crust of brown bread and a pot of good ale. An old English Song, from "An Antidote Against Melancholy." (1661.) When the Sultan Shah-Zaman Goes to the city Ispahan, Even before he gets so far As the place where the clustered palm-trees are, At the last of the thirty palace-gates, The pet of the harem, Rose-in-Bloom, Orders a feast in his favorite room- Glittering square of colored ice, Sweetened with syrup, tinctured with spice, Creams, and cordials, and sugared dates, Syrian apples, Othmanee quinces, Limes and citrons and apricots, And wines that are known to Eastern princes.— T. B. ALDRICH — When the Sultan Goes
to Ispahan. I sing the sweets I know, the charms I feel, My morning incense, and my evening meal, The sweets of Hasty-Pudding.— JOEL BARLOW — The Hasty Pudding. Canto I.
Some hae meat and canna eat, And some wad eat that want it; But we hae meat, and we can eat; Sae let the Lord be thankit.— BURNS — Grace Before Meat.
All human history attests That happiness for man, -the hungry sinner!- Since Eve ate apples, much depends on dinner.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto XIII. St. 99.
Man is a carnivorous production, And must have meals, at least one meal a day; He cannot live, like woodcocks, upon suction, But, like the shark and tiger, must have prey; Although his anatomical construction Bears vegetables, in a grumbling way, Your laboring people think beyond all question, Beef, veal, and mutton better for digestion.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto II. St. 67.
That famish'd people must be slowly nurst, And fed by spoonfuls, else they always burst.— BYRON — Don Juan. Canto II. St. 158.
A loaf of bread, the Walrus said, Is what we chiefly need: Pepper and vinegar besides Are very good indeed- Now if you're ready, Oysters, dear, We can begin to feed!— LEWIS CARROLL — The Walrus and the
Carpenter. From "Alice in The Looking-Glass." The proof of the pudding is in the eating.— CERVANTES — Don Quixote. Ch. XXIV.
For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise.— COLERIDGE — Kubla Khan.
Oh, dainty and delicious! Food for the gods! Ambrosia for Apicius! Worthy to thrill the soul of sea-born Venus, Or titillate the palate of Silenus!— W. A. CROFFUT — Clam Soup.
"Here, dearest Eve," he exclaims, "here is food." "Well," answered she, with the germ of a housewife stirring within her, "we have been so busy to-day that a picked-up dinner must serve."— NATH. HAWTHORNE — Mosses from an
Old Manse. The New Adam and Eve. "Good well-dress'd turtle beats them hollow, - It almost makes me wish, I vow, To have two stomachs, like a cow!" And lo! as with the cud, an inward thrill Upheaved his waistcoat and disturb'd his frill, His mouth was oozing, and he work'd his jaw- "I almost think that I could eat one raw."— HOOD — The Turtles.
The consummate pleasure (in eating) is not in the costly flavour, but in yourself. Do you seek for sauce by sweating?— HORACE — Satires II. 2.
For a man seldom thinks with more earnestness of anything than he does of his dinner.— SAM'L JOHNSON — Piozzi's Anecdotes
of Johnson. For I look upon it, that he who does not mind his belly will hardly mind anything else.— SAM'L JOHNSON — Boswell's Life of
Johnson. Digestive cheese, and fruit there sure will be.— BEN JONSON — Epigram CI.
Yet shall you have to rectify your palate, An olive, capers, or some better salad Ushering the mutton; with a short-legged hen, If we can get her, full of eggs, and then, Limons, and wine for sauce: to these a coney Is not to be despaired of for our money; And though fowl now be scarce, yet there are clerks, The sky not falling, think we may have larks.— BEN JONSON — Epigram CI.
And lucent syrops, tinct with cinnamon.— KEATS — The Eve of St. Agnes. St. 30.
What baron or squire Or knight of the shire Lives half so well as a holy friar.— JOHN O'KEEFE — I am a Friar of Orders
Gray. A woman asked a coachman, "Are you full inside?" Upon which Lamb put his head through the window and said: "I am quite full inside; that last piece of pudding at Mr. Gillman's did the business for me."— CHARLES LAMB — Autobiographical
Recollections, by Chas. R. Leslie. Your supper is like the Hidalgo's dinner; very little meat, and a great deal of tablecloth.— LONGFELLOW — The Spanish Student. Act I. Sc. 4.
Oh, better no doubt is a dinner of herbs, When season'd by love, which no rancour disturbs And sweeten'd by all that is sweetest in life Than turbot, bisque, ortolans, eaten in strife! But if, out of humour, and hungry, alone A man should sit down to dinner, each one Of the dishes of which the cook chooses to spoil With a horrible mixture of garlic and oil, The chances are ten against one, I must own, He gets up as ill-tempered as when he sat down. OWEN MEREDITH (Lord Lytton)- Lucile. Pt. I. Canto II. St.
O hour, of all hours, the most bless'd upon earth, The blesséd hour of our dinners! OWEN MEREDITH (Lord Lytton)- Lucile. Pt. I. Canto II. St. 23. We may live without poetry, music and art; We may live without conscience, and live without heart; We may live without friends; we may live without books; But civilized man cannot live without cooks. He may live without books, -what is knowledge but grieving? He may live without hope, -what is hope but deceiving? He may live without love,-what is passion but pining? But where is the man that can live without dining? OWEN MEREDITH (Lord Lytton)- Lucile. Pt. I. Canto II. St. 24. Their best and most wholesome feeding is upon one dish and no more and the same plaine and simple: for surely this hudling of many meats one upon another of divers tastes is pestiferous. But sundrie sauces are more dangerous than that.— PLINY — Natural History. Bk. XI. Ch. LIII. Holland's trans.
What, did you not know, then, that to-day Lucullus dines with Lucullus?— PLUTARCH — Lives. Life of Lucullus. Vol. III. P. 280.
And solid pudding against empty praise.— POPE — The Dunciad. Bk. I. L. 54.
"An't it please your Honour," quoth the Peasant, "This same Dessert is not so pleasant: Give me again my hollow Tree, A crust of Bread, and Liberty."— POPE — Second Book of Horace.
Last lines. "Live like yourself," was soon my lady's word, And lo! two puddings smok'd upon the board.— POPE — Moral Essays. Ep. III. L. 461.
One solid dish his week-day meal affords, An added pudding solemniz'd the Lord's.— POPE — Moral Essays. Ep. III. L. 447.
"Pray take them, Sir, - Enough's a Feast; Eat some, and pocket up the rest." S.— POPE — First Book of Horace. Ep. VII. L. 24.
And men sit down to that nourishment which is called supper.— Shakespeare — Love's Labour's Lost. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 239.
A surfeit of the sweetest things The deepest loathing to the stomach brings.— Shakespeare — Midsummer Night's Dream. Act II. Sc. 2. L. 137.
At dinner-time, I pray you, have in mind where we must meet.— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 70.
Come, we have a hot venison pasty to dinner; come, gentlemen, I hope we shall drink down all unkindness.— Shakespeare — Merry Wives of Windsor. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 202.
He hath eaten me out of house and home.— Shakespeare — Henry IV. Pt. II. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 81.
I fear it is too choleric a meat. How say you to a fat tripe finely broil'd?— Shakespeare — Taming of the Shrew. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 19.
If you do, expect spoon-meat; or bespeak a long spoon.— Shakespeare — Comedy of Errors. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 61.
I will make an end of my dinner; there's pippins and cheese to come.— Shakespeare — Merry Wives of Windsor. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 12.
I wished your venison better; it was ill kill'd.— Shakespeare — Merry Wives of Windsor. Act I. Sc. 1. L. 83.
Let me not stay a jot for dinner; go get it ready.— Shakespeare — King Lear. Act I. Sc. 4. L. 8.
Perhaps some merchant hath invited him And from the mart he's somewhere gone to dinner. Good sister, let us dine and never fret.— Shakespeare — Comedy of Errors. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 4.
Sit down and feed, and welcome to our table.— Shakespeare — As You Like It. Act II. Sc. 7. L. 106.
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.— Shakespeare — Taming of the Shrew. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 279.
They are as sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing.— Shakespeare — Merchant of Venice. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 5.
What say you to a piece of beef and mustard?— Shakespeare — Taming of the Shrew. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 23.
Will you go with me? We'll mend our dinner here.— Shakespeare — Comedy of Errors. Act IV. Sc. 3. L. 60.
With eager feeding food doth choke the feeder.— Shakespeare — Richard II. Act II. Sc. 1. L. 37.
You would eat chickens i' the shell.— Shakespeare — Troilus and Cressida. Act I. Sc. 2. L. 147.
Though we eat little flesh and drink no wine, Yet let's be merry; we'll have tea and toast; Custards for supper, and an endless host Of syllabubs and jellies and mince-pies, And other such ladylike luxuries.— SHELLEY — Letter to Maria Gisborne.
An oyster may be crossed in love! Who says A whale's a bird?-Ha! did you call my love?- He's here! he's there! he's everywhere! Ah me! he's nowhere! S.— R. B. SHERIDAN — The Critic. A Tragedy Rehearsed. Act III. Sc. 1.
Oh, herbaceous treat! 'Twould tempt the dying anchorite to eat; Back to the world he'd turn his fleeting soul, And plunge his fingers in the salad bowl; Serenely full the epicure would say, "Fate cannot harm me, I have dined to-day."— SYDNEY SMITH — A Receipt for a Salad.
Bad men live that they may eat and drink, whereas good men eat and drink that they may live. Attributed to SOCRATES by PLUTARCH- Morals. How a Young Man Ought to Hear Poems. He was a bold man that first eat an oyster.— SWIFT — Polite Conversation.
Dialogue II. Lord, Madame, I have fed like a farmer; I shall grow as fat as a porpoise.— SWIFT — Polite Conversation.
Dialogue II. They say fingers were made before forks, and hands before knives.— SWIFT — Polite Conversation.
Dialogue II. This dish of meat is too good for any but anglers, or very honest men.— IZAAK WALTON — The Complete Angler. Pt. I. Ch. VIII
"Very astonishing indeed! strange thing!" (Turning the Dumpling round, rejoined the King), "'Tis most extraordinary, then, all this is; It beats Penetti's conjuring all to pieces; Strange I should never of a Dumpling dream! But, Goody, tell me where, where, where's the Seam?" "Sire, there's no Seam," quoth she; "I never knew That folks did Apple-Dumplings sew." "No!" cried the staring Monarch with a grin; "How, how the devil got the Apple in?" a. JOHN WOLCOTT (Peter Pindar)-The Apple Dumplings and a King.
Esse oportet ut vivas, non vivere ut edas. Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat.— CICERO — Rhetoricorum Ad C. Herennium.
IV. 7. Jejunus raro stomachus vulgaria temnit. A stomach that is seldom empty despises common food.— HORACE — Satiræ. II. 2. 38.
Festo die si quid prodegeris, Profesto egere liceat nisi peperceris. Feast to-day makes fast to-morrow.— PLAUTUS — Aulularia. II. 8. 10.
Dis moi ce que tu manges, je te dirai ce que tu es. Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.— BRILLAT SAVARIN — Physiologie du Gout.
Je veux que le dimanche chaque paysan ait sa poule au pot. I want every peasant to have a chicken in his pot on Sundays. HENRY IV. of France. L'appétit vient en mangeant. Appetite comes with eating.— RABELAIS — Gargantua. I. 5.
Le véritable Amphitryon Est l'Amphitryon où l'on dine. The genuine Amphitryon is the Amphitryon with whom we dine.— MOLIÈRE — Amphitryon. III. 5.
L'abstenir pour jouir, c'est l'épicurisme de a raison. To abstain that we may enjoy is the epicurianism of reason.— ROUSSEAU
Un dîner réchauffé ne valut jamais rien. A warmed-up dinner was never worth much.— BOILEAU — Lutrin. I. 104.
L'anima mia gustava di quel cibo, Che saziando di sè, di sè s'asseta. My soul tasted that heavenly food, which gives new appetite while it satiates.— DANTE — Purgatorio. XXXI. 128.
END (THE). En toute chose il faut considérer la fin. We ought to consider the end in everything.— LA FONTAINE — Fables. III. 5.
Et le chemin est long du projet à la chose. The road is long from the project to its completion.— MOLIÈRE — Le Tartuffe. III. 1.
Par les mêmes voies on ne va pas toujours aux mêmes fins. By the same means we do not always arrive at the same ends.— ST. REAL