The best quotes on whisky

From poets to actors, here are the best quotes on whisky.

Burns Night is coming up shortly. And when you think of whisky and words, Robbie Burns automatically springs to mind. Who can forget his words on the closure of Ferintosh distillery on the Black Isle, ‘Thee, Ferintosh! O sadly lost! Scotland lament frae coast to coast!” or his condemnation of  Kilbagie as “most rascally liquor and in consequence only drunk by the most rascally part of the inhabitants.” And don’t forget “Freedom and whisky gang thegither”.

But the Bard wasn’t the only notable person with something pithy to say about whisky. Irish novelists to American presidents have quipped with the best, and we’ve come up with a master list.

These are the best quotes on whisky, including beautiful prose, funny jokes, and even some famous last words. 

The best quotes on whisky

Mark Twain

“Too much of anything is bad, but too much good whiskey is barely enough.”

Raymond Chandler

“There is no bad whiskey. There are only some whiskeys that aren’t as good as others.”

Compton MacKenzie

“Love makes the world go round? Not at all. Whisky makes it go round twice as fast.”

Ava Gardner

”I wish to live to 150 years old, but the day I die, I wish it to be with a cigarette in one hand and a glass of whiskey in the other.”

Humphrey Bogart, reported last words*

“I should never have switched from Scotch to Martinis.”

Alexander Fleming

“A good gulp of hot whiskey at bedtime – it’s not very scientific, but it helps.”

James Joyce

“The light music of whiskey falling into a glass – an agreeable interlude.”

W.C. Fields

“Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snakebite. And furthermore, always carry a small snake.”

Johnny Carson

“Happiness is having a rare steak, a bottle of whisky, and a dog to eat the rare steak.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

“The king o’ drinks, as I conceive it,

Talisker, Isla, or Glenlivet!” 

George Bernard Shaw

“Whiskey is liquid sunshine.”

Abraham Lincoln

“Tell me what brand of whiskey that Grant drinks. I would like to send a barrel of it to my other generals.”

Old Irish proverb

“What whisky will not cure, there is no cure for.”

*Unconfirmed and probably made up. But still, it’s very cool, so we’re just going to pretend it’s true.

Please let us know if we have missed anything in the comments, and we’ll add it to the list.