Old (Classical) Greek and Roman Wine Quotes
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Those Greeks and Romans said a lot of clever things, including about wine...Making Ancient Roman Wine In Classical Wine Quotes
Doesn't this look like fun? But we may well imagine that foot stomping can get quite tiring. Do you think they got paid in wine or in sandals?
While winemaking was a developed art in the days of the classical Greeks and Romans, their style was millenia removed from ours. Instead of bottles and corks (or screwcaps), they conserved wine in jugs and consequently drank them young. To improve shelf life, the Greeks added resin and the Romans added honey and raisins. And yet the sages waxed eloquently over the wines of the day (or past few months). Imagine what they would say about today's best offerings.
Plant no tree sooner than the vine.
Alcaeus, Greek poet, (c.620-c.580 BC)
When men drink, then they are rich and successful and win
lawsuits and are happy and help their friends. Quickly, bring me a beaker of
wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.
Aristophanes, Greek playwright, (c. 448-380 BC) in The Knights
On one occasion some one put a very little wine into a [glass], and said
that it was sixteen years old.
'It is very small for its age,' said Gnathaena.
Athenaeus, Greek writer, (c. 200 AD)
I like best the wine drunk at the cost of others.
Diogenes the Cynic, Greek Philosopher, (c. 412-323 BC)
Where there is no wine there is no love.
Euripides Greek playwright, (c. 480-406 BC)
Both to the rich and poor, wine is the happy antidote for sorrow.
Euripides Greek playwright, (c. 480-406 BC)
It is better to hide ignorance,
but it is hard to do this when we
relax over wine.
Heraclitus, Greek philosopher, (540-480 BC)
No poem was ever written by a drinker of water
Homer, Greek epic poet, (Eighth Century BC)
Bacchus opens the gate of the heart.
Homer, Greek epic poet, (Eighth Century BC)
Homer, Greek epic poet, (Eighth Century BC)
The wine urges me on, the bewitching wine, which sets even a wise
man to singing and to laughing gently and rouses him up to dance and brings
forth words which were better unspoken.
Homer, Greek epic poet, (Eighth Century BC)
Wine can of their wits the wise beguile,
Make the sage frolic, and the serious smile.
Homer, Greek epic poet, (Eighth Century BC)
No poems can please for long or live that are written by water drinkers.
Horace, Roman philosopher, (65-8 BC)
By wine eating cares are put to flight.
adapted from Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Roman philosopher, (65-8 BC)
Whom has not the inspiring bowl made eloquent?
Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Roman philosopher, (65-8 BC)
Wine brings to light the hidden secrets of the soul, gives being
to
our hopes, bids the coward flight, drives dull care away, and teaches
new means for the accomplishment of our wishes.
Horace Roman philosopher, (65-8 BC)
Wine stimulates the mind and makes it quick with heat; care flees
and is dissolved in much drink.
Ovid Roman poet, (43 BC-17 AD)
There with the wine before you, you will tell of many things.
Ovid Roman poet, (43 BC-17 AD)
It warms the blood, adds luster to the eyes,
And wine and love have ever been allies.
Ovid Roman poet, (43 BC-17 AD)
Wine gives courage and makes men more apt for passion.
Ovid Roman poet, (43 BC-17 AD)
When there is plenty of wine, sorrow and worry take wing.
Ovid Roman poet, (43 BC-17 AD) in The Art of Love
Time, motion and wine cause sleep.
Ovid Roman poet (43 BC-17 AD)
Wine prepares the heart for love unless you take too much.
Ovid Roman poet, (43 BC-17 AD)
He was a wise man who invented beer.
Plato, Greek philosopher, (c. 427-347 BC)
What is better adapted than the festive use of wine in the first
place to test and in the second place to train the character of a man, if care
be taken in the use of it? What is there cheaper or more innocent.
Plato, Greek philosopher, (c. 427-347 BC)
When a man drinks wine at dinner, he begins to be better pleased
with himself.
Plato, Greek philosopher, (c. 427-347 BC)
A remedy for the moroseness of old age.
Plato, Greek philosopher, (c. 427-347 BC)
Wine fills the heart with courage.
Plato, Greek philosopher, (c. 427-347 BC)
No thing more excellent nor more valuable than wine
was ever granted mankind by God.
Plato, Greek philosopher, (c. 427-347 BC)
This is the great evil in wine, it first seizes the feet; it is a
cunning wrestler.
Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus), Roman playwright, (c. 254-184 BC)
I regard those as wise who employ old wine freely and study old
stories.
Plautus (Titus Maccius Plautus), Roman playwright, (c. 254-184 BC)
It has passed into a proverb, that wisdom is overshadowed by
wine.
Pliny the Elder (Caius Plinius Secundus), Roman officer and encyclopedist, (23-79)
It has become quite a common proverb that in wine there is truth.
Pliny the Elder (Caius Plinius Secundus), Roman officer and
encyclopedist, (23-79)
Pliny had a good answer when someone asked him, What is the best kind of
wine? He would reply, The best kind of wine is that which is most pleasant to
him who drinks it.
Pliny the Elder (Caius Plinius Secundus), Roman officer and
encyclopedist, (23-79)
In wine there is health (In vino sanitas)
Pliny the Elder, Roman officer and encyclopaedist, (23-79)
Wine kindles wrath.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Roman playwright, (c. 4 BC-65 AD)
Wine is a perfect cure for heaviness and sorrow.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Roman playwright, (c. 4 BC-65 AD)
The great evil of wine is that it first seizes the feet, it is a
crafty wrestler.
Titus Maccius, Roman playwright (c. 254-184 BC)
The peoples of the Mediterranean began to emerge from barbarism
when they learnt to cultivate the olive and the vine.
Thucydides, Greek Historian, (c. 460-400 BC)
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