“I'd rather take coffee than compliments just now.”
Louisa May Alcott book Little Women
Source: Little Women
A collection of quotes on the topic of food, water, cooking, alcohol.
“I'd rather take coffee than compliments just now.”
Louisa May Alcott book Little Women
Source: Little Women
“What goes best with a cup of coffee? Another cup.”
Henry Rollins book Black Coffee Blues
Source: Black Coffee Blues
“Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?”
Albert Camus (1913–1960) French author and journalist
There is no documented evidence that Camus ever wrote or said this, aside from Barry Schwartz's uncited mention in The Paradox of Choice. It is likely falsely attributed.
Disputed
“Even bad coffee is better than no coffee at all.”
David Lynch (1946) American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor
“Wonderful coffee. Meal in itself”
Arthur Miller book Death of a Salesman
Willy
Death of a Salesman (1949)
“It’s Kahlua, Sage. Packed with sugar and coffee flavor.”
Richelle Mead book The Indigo Spell
Source: The Indigo Spell
“If you want to improve your understanding, drink coffee.”
Sydney Smith (1771–1845) English writer and clergyman
“Wake up and smell the coffee
Is your cup half full or empty?”
Billie Eilish (2001) American singer-songwriter
"Come Out and Play" (20 November 2018) · YouTube audio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXFdnHiGwos, co-written with Finneas O'Connell. <br class="br">Singles (2017 - )
Sitting Bull (1831–1890) Hunkpapa Lakota medicine man and holy man
Also told to Charles Larpenteur at Fort Union in 1867. Published in Utley, Robert M. The Lance and the Shield. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 1993. p. 73.
“I hope someday to make you all a cup of coffee. Alright, peace.”
Johnny Depp (1963) American actor, film producer, and musician
Jack LaLanne (1914–2011) American exercise instructor
In "Live Young Forever: 12 Steps to Optimum Health, Fitness and Longevity", p. 10
Frederick II of Prussia (1712–1786) king of Prussia
1777; quoted by Bert L. Vallée, Alcohol in the Western World, Scientific American, Vol. 278, No. 6 (June), 1998, pp. 80-85
Joaquin Phoenix (1974) American actor, music video director, producer, musician, and social activist
"Joaquin Phoenix's Oscars speech in full: 'We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow and steal her baby'" https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/feb/10/joaquin-phoenixs-oscars-speech-in-full, The Guardian (February 10, 2020).
“I don't drink coffee I take tea my dear
I like my toast done on one side…"
()”
Sting (1951) English musician
Source: Nothing Like the Sun
“If this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) 16th President of the United States
Attributed in Evan Esar (1949), The Dictionary of Humorous Quotations
Misattributed
“Sometimes life is merely a matter of coffee and whatever intimacy a cup of coffee affords.”
Richard Brautigan (1935–1984) American novelist, poet, and short story writer
“As long as there was coffee in the world, how bad could things be?”
Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes
Source: City of Ashes
David Lynch (1946) American filmmaker, television director, visual artist, musician and occasional actor
“Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee
And I'll forgive Thy great big one on me.”
"Forgive, O Lord," In the Clearing (1962) <br class="br">First published in the Harvard Alumni Bulletin (12 November 1960), p. 157 http://books.google.com/books?id=9J_lAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Forgive+O+Lord+my+little+jokes+on+Thee+And+I'll+forgive+Thy+great+big+one+on+me%22&pg=PA157#v=onepage <br class="br">1960s <br class="br">Variant: Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee And I'll forgive Thy great big one on me.
Jeremy Clarkson (1960) English broadcaster, journalist and writer
The Unhappiest People on Earth? You'd never guess, p. 259
The World According to Clarkson (2005)
Elliot Rodger (1991–2014) American spree killer
My Twisted World (2014), 19-22, UC Santa Barbara, Building to Violence
H.P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) American author
Letter to "The Keicomolo"—Kleiner, Cole, and Moe (October 1916), in Selected Letters I, 1911-1924 edited by August Derleth and Donald Wandrei, p. 27
Non-Fiction, Letters
Robert Rauschenberg (1925–2008) American artist
Source: 1980's, Off the Wall: Robert Rauschenberg and the Art world of Our Time, 1980, p. 89
Alejandro Jodorowsky (1929) Filmmaker and comics writer
Psychomagic: The Transformative Power of Shamanic Psychotherapy (2010)
Simon Wiesenthal (1908–2005) Austrian Holocaust survivor noted for his work as a Nazi hunter
New York Times Obituary, 9/20/2005
Lady Gaga (1986) American singer, songwriter, and actress
Cosmopolitan (April 2010). https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/lady-gaga-ex-boyfriend-quote/
Celia Cruz (1925–2003) Cuban singer (1925-2003)
On the origin of her catchphrase "Azúcar"; from a 2000 interview quoted in “Celia Cruz, 77; Queen of Salsa’s Passing Marks the End of a Musical Era” https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2003-jul-17-me-cruz17-story.html in Los Angeles Times (2003 Jul 17).<br><br>The quote is discussed in Why Did Celia Cruz Say, "Azúcar"? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaHb_ms1YkAWhy in the Smithsonian Music Channel.
“If it weren't for the coffee, I'd have no identifiable personality whatsoever.”
David Letterman (1947) American comedian and actor
Pearl Cleage (1948) American novelist
Source: Deals with the Devil, and Other Reasons to Riot
Erich Segal book Love Story
Variant: What the hell makes you so smart?" I asked. "I wouldn't go for coffee with you, " she answered. "Listen -- I wouldn't ask you." "That, "she replied "is what makes you stupid.
Source: Love Story
“Sex might satisfy, food might fuel, love might sustain, but without coffee, what is the point?”
Nora Roberts (1950) American romance writer
Source: Heart of the Sea
“He was contemplation and enthusiasm. Ambition and strong coffee.”
E. Lockhart book We Were Liars
Variant: He was contemplation and enthusiasm. Ambition and strong coffee. I could have looked at him forever.
Source: We Were Liars
“Do you have any coffee?'…'It stunts my growth, and I'm afraid of death.”
Jonathan Safran Foer book Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Source: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
John D. Rockefeller (1839–1937) American business magnate and philanthropist
Attributed in How to Win Friends and Influence People (1937) by Dale Carnegie
Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Dates to 1899, American humor origin, originally featuring a woman upset by a man's cigar smoking. Cigar often removed in later versions, coffee added in 1900. Incorrectly attributed in Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan, Glitter and Gold (1952). <br class="br">See various early citations and references to refutations at “If you were my husband, I’d poison your coffee” (Nancy Astor to Churchill?) http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/if_you_were_my_husband_id_poison_your_coffee_nancy_astor_to_churchill, Barry Popik, The Big Apple,' February 09, 2009 <br class="br">Early examples include 19 November 1899, Gazette-Telegraph (CO), "Tales of the Town," p. 7, and early attributions are to American humorists Marshall P. Wilder and De Wolf Hopper. <br class="br">Churchill by Himself: The Definitive Collection of Quotations, by Richard Langworth, PublicAffairs, 2008, p. 578. <br class="br">The Yale Book of Quotations, edited by Fred R. Shapiro, New Haven, CT, Yale University Press, 2006, p. 155. <br class="br">George Thayer, The Washington Post (April 27, 1971), p. B6. <br class="br">Misattributed <br class="br">Variant: Lady Nancy Astor: Winston, if you were my husband, I'd put arsenic in your morning coffee.<br><br>Winston Churchill: Madam, if you were my wife, I'd drink it.
“The coffee shop smell was strong enough to build a garage on.”
Raymond Chandler book Farewell, My Lovely
Source: Farewell, My Lovely
“If you cannot stand a spoon upright in the cup, then the coffee is too weak.”
Lawrence Block (1938) American writer
“Ah coffee. The sweet balm by which we shall accomplish today's tasks.”
Holly Black (1971) American children's fiction writer
Source: Ironside
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer
Source: Sifting Through the Madness for the Word, the Line, the Way
“Eating rice cakes is like chewing on a foam coffee cup, only less filling.”
Dave Barry (1947) American writer
Cassandra Clare book City of Ashes
Variant: Alec slid his hand from Jace's arm to his shoulder. Magnus cleared his throat. Alec dropped his hand. Simon grinned into his undrunk coffee.
Source: City of Ashes
Charles Bukowski book The People Look Like Flowers at Last
Source: The People Look Like Flowers at Last
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) American writer
Source: You Get So Alone at Times That it Just Makes Sense
“I drank coffee and read old books and waited for the year to end.”
Richard Brautigan book Trout Fishing in America
Source: Trout Fishing in America
Anthony Capella (1962) British writer
Source: The Various Flavours Of Coffee
Rob Thurman (1950) American writer
Source: Deathwish
“Adventure in life is good; consistency in coffee even better.”
Justina Chen (1968) American writer
Source: North of Beautiful
“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;”
T.S. Eliot (1888–1965) 20th century English author
The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (1915)
Source: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock and Other Poems
Context: Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.
For I have known them all already, known them all: —
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
“I like my coffee hot and strong. Like I like my women: hot and strong… with a spoon in them.”
Eddie Izzard (1962) British stand-up comedian, actor and writer
Glorious (1997)
Variant: I like my coffee like I like my women... in a plastic cup.
Source: Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill
Patricia Briggs book Silver Borne
Source: Silver Borne
Haruki Murakami book Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
Source: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
“We drank our coffee the Russian way. That is to say we had vodka before it and vodka afterwards.”
Philip Sington (1962) British writer
Source: The Valley of Unknowing