Friendship, "the wine of life," should, like a well-stocked cellar, be continually renewed; and it is consolatory to think, that a...lthough we can seldom add what will equal the generous first growths of our youth, yet friendship becomes insensibly old in much less time than is commonly imagined, and not many years are required to make it mellow and pleasant. Warmth will, no doubt, make a considerable difference. Men of affectionate temper and bright fancy will coalesce a great deal sooner than those who are cold and dull.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
If you are not proud of your cellar, there is no thrill of satisfaction in seeing your guest hold up his wine-glass to the light a...nd look judicial.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
If you have a grateful heart (which is a miracle amongst you statesmen), show it by directing the bearer to the best wine in town,... and pray let not this highest point of sacred friendship be performed slightly, but go about it with all due deliberation and care, as holy priests to sacrifice, or as discreet thieves to the wary performance of burglary and shop-lifting. Let your well-discerning palate (the best judge about you) travel from cellar to cellar and then from piece to piece till it has lighted on wine fit for its noble choice and my approbation.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Other countries drink to get drunk, and this is accepted by everyone; in France, drunkenness is a consequence, never an intention.... A drink is felt as the spinning out of a pleasure, not as the necessary cause of an effect which is sought: wine is not only a philtre, it is also the leisurely act of drinking.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Wine is a part of society because it provides a basis not only for a morality but also for an environment; it is an ornament in th...e slightest ceremonials of French daily life, from the snack ... to the feast, from the conversation at the local café to the speech at a formal dinnerLESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
I can no more think of my own life without thinking of wine and wines and where they grew for me and why I drank them when I did a...nd why I picked the grapes and where I opened the oldest procurable bottles, and all that, than I can remember living before I breathed.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »