Shakespeare’s plays are full of reference to drink (usually alcoholic drinks!). As always with Shakespeare, he used everyday things to characterise the people who populate the world of his plays, and used drinks as metaphors to create impressions of the times he lived in.
Read on below to see the top Shakespeare quotes about drink from across all of his works:
Do you think because you are virtuous, that there shall be no more cakes and ale?
Twelfth Night: Act 2, Scene 3
Good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well used.
Othello: Act 2, Scene 3
I would give all my fame for a pot of ale.
Henry V: Act 3, Scene 2
Why, sir, for my part I say the gentleman had drunk himself out of his five senses.
The Merry Wives Of Windsor: Act 1, Scene 1
Drink sir, is a great provoker of three things….nose-painting, sleep and urine. Lechery, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes; it provokes the desire but takes away the performance.
Macbeth: Act 2, Scene 3
Let my liver rather heat with wine
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans
The Merchant of Venice: Act 1, Scene 1
A man cannot make him laugh – but that’s no marvel; he drinks no wine.
Henry IV Part 2: Act 2, Scene 4
I pray you, do not fall in love with me, For I am falser than vows made in wine.
As You Like It: Act 3, Scene 5
O thou invisible spirit of wine! If thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil!
Othello: Act 2, Scene 3
Interior of Elizabethan style tavern, Prospect of Whitby, London
What do you think of these Shakespeare quotes on food and drink – any that we’re missing? Let us know in the comments section below.
Thank you!
Good quotes – but names of characters would be useful too.
Or, Peter, you could maybe do that bit of homework yourself, instead of making a ‘cavil on the ninth part of a hair’ . I’ll let you discover which character said that on your own shall I? :-)
“you are a saucy boy,” Sven Diamond. I appreciate that in a man.
thanks for the info, i have to write an essay! I’m only 12, I shouldn’t have to spend my entire weekend writing it.
I wrote a book to make Shakespeare fun and accessible called ‘To Be Or Not To Be, Innit. A Yoof-Speak Guide to Shakespeare. It became an unexpected best-seller.
Bardolph’s line is a malaprop in Merrie Wives: “…5 sentences.”
Drink is a provoker quote is from MacBeth, not Henry IV
Yes, i noticed that too, having just skim read the scottish play
your totally right!!!
Several of those quotes are attributed to the wrong play.
Drink sir, is the provoker of three things…. is from Macbeth the Porter says it.
And most, dear actors, let us eat no onions or garlic… is from Midsummer and Bottom says it.
My lord of Ely… is from Richard III said by Richard.
I suspect one or two more are incorrect, but those are the ones that I know.
Hi Sarah, all the quotes you mentioned are attributed to the right plays that you mention… perhaps the layout of our page is a little confusing!
You should fix the spacing–every quote looks like it’s attributed to the following play!
You’re quite right Jeff – ’tis done!
Henry V I.1
Bishop is Ely:
“The strawberry grows underneath the nettle,
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best
Neighbor’d by fruit of baser quality”
I suspect there is a connection to the RIC III bit where the Bishop of Ely (again) is praised for his strawberries. Do strawberries grow particularly well in Ely?
These quotes are great! Thanks.