To most people happiness is enjoyment of life and sharing experiences with others that they care about. Maybe that’s why it’s almost impossible to find a sad wine taster…they are doing something they enjoy, usually with people they enjoy and the restorative powers of wine are taking hold.
There have been many quotable words written over the past 2000 years to pair wine and happiness. The curative powers of wine were used by long forgotten ancestors to help both physical and mental pains. So it is no wonder that past writers wrote of ”sorrows being lifted,” since wine was a healthful and restorative elixir of the ancient times of Bacchus.
Life isn’t going to be all happiness and smiles or those imaginative “days of wine and roses,” but share a glass of wine and it’s going to be an occasion to enjoy. That is not to say that wine is necessary for happiness, just that they have long been friends.
Literature and history have linked wine and merriment together as the following quotes and poems offer. These interesting quips and poems are from the famous, the not so famous and the person no one knows, anonymous.
- Wine makes daily living easier, less hurried, with fewer tensions and more tolerance. - Ben Franklin, Commonsense
- Wine cheers the sad, revives the old, inspires the young, makes weariness forget his toil. - Lord Bryon, Sardanapalus
- How simple and frugal a thing is happiness; a glass of wine, a roast chestnut, a wretched little brazier, the sound of the sea.- Nikos Kazantzakis, Zorba the Greek, ch. 7
- Whoever said money can’t buy happiness has never bought wine. - Margot Dillard, Wine and Sweet Words
- I only drink Champagne when I'm happy, and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company, I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I am not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it - unless I'm thirsty. - Lily Bollinger
- For when we drink, our sorrows At once are hush'd in slumber. Anacreon
Praise of Bacchus
Whilst our joys with wine we raise,
Youthful Bacchus we will praise.
Bacchus dancing did invent;
Bacchus is on songs intent;
Bacchus teacheth Love to court,
And his mother how to sport;
Graceful confidence he lends;
He oppressive trouble ends;
To the bowl when we repair,
Grief doth vanish into air;
Drink we then, and drown all sorrow;
All our cares not knows the morrow;
Life is dark, let's dance and play,
They that will be troubled may;
We our joys with wine will raise,
Youthful Bacchus we will praise.
Anacreon as translated by Thomas Stanley
Here’s to the wine drinkers continued pursuit of happiness. Cheer!
Margo Dillard - Margot has finally had her second book published, Life By The Glassful. Both her new book and her first one, Wine and Sweet Words are ...
