Don’t praise the day until it’s night, don’t praise your wife until she’s burned, don’t praise the sword till after the fight, nor your daughter till she’s married, don’t praise the ice until it’s crossed, nor the ale until it’s drunk.
“This society doesn't work without booze – our parties aren't good enough, our conversations aren't sufficiently interesting, nor is our self-confidence high enough to sustain our interactions without alcohol. It's everywhere, lubricating everything.”
― Back Story
― Back Story
“This leads to the great theory of human history: that we didn’t start farming because we wanted food—there was loads of that around. We started farming because we wanted booze.”
― A Short History of Drunkenness: How, Why, Where, and When Humankind Has Gotten Merry from the Stone Age to the Present
― A Short History of Drunkenness: How, Why, Where, and When Humankind Has Gotten Merry from the Stone Age to the Present
“Whether it’s the growth of the economy, audience shares, publications – slowly but surely, quality is being replaced by quantity. ... And driving it all is a force sometimes called “liberalism,” an ideology that has been all but hollowed out. ... Freedom may be our highest ideal, but ours has become an empty freedom. Our fear of moralizing in any form has made morality a taboo in the public debate. The public arena should be “neutral,” after all – yet never before has it been so paternalistic. On every street corner we’re baited to booze, binge, borrow, buy, toil, stress, and swindle. Whatever we may tell ourselves about freedom of speech, our values are suspiciously close to those touted by precisely the companies that can pay for prime-time advertising.”
― Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World
― Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World
“I can't die until the government finds a safe place to bury my liver”
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“William Faulkner is supposed to have said, "Civilization begins with distillation," but I'd push even further -- beyond just distilled spirits to wine, beer, mead, sake ... all of it. Booze is civilization in a glass.”
― Proof: The Science of Booze
― Proof: The Science of Booze
Craig’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Craig’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
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