„What a strange machine man is! You fill him with bread, wine, fish, and radishes, and out comes sighs, laughter, and dreams.“

— Nikos Kazantzakis, book Zorba the Greek

Source: Zorba the Greek (1946), Ch. 23

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update March 13, 2022.

Nikos Kazantzakis photo

Nikos Kazantzakis222

Greek writer 1883 - 1957

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„What is man, when you come to think upon him, but a minutely set, ingenious machine for turning, with infinite artfulness, the red wine of Shiraz into urine?“

— Karen Blixen, book Seven Gothic Tales

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Seven Gothic Tales (1934)

Art, Thinking, Wine

„When the wine goes in, strange things come out.“

— Friedrich Schiller, Wallenstein

Act II, sc. v
Wallenstein (1798), Part I - Die Piccolomini (The Piccolomini)

„Do you consider a man to be a Christian by whose bread no hungry man is ever filled?“

— Pelagius British monk 360 - 420

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„If we sip the wine, we find dreams coming upon us out of the imminent night“

— D.H. Lawrence English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter 1885 - 1930

Dreams, Wine, Night

„Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.“

— Laozi semi-legendary Chinese figure, attributed to the 6th century, regarded as the author of the Tao Te Ching and founder of… -604

This quotation has been misattributed to Laozi; its origin is actually unknown (see "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime" on Wiktionary). This quotation has also been misattributed to Confucius and Guan Zhong.
Misattributed

„What is man? … What a strange union of matter and mind! A machine for converting material into spiritual force.“

— Benjamin Peirce American mathematician 1809 - 1880

As quoted in The Early Years of the Saturday Club, 1855-1870 (1918) by Edward Waldo Emerson.

„People love to say, “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” What they don’t say is, “And it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod.”“

— Trevor Noah, book Born a Crime

That’s the part of the analogy that’s missing.
page 190
Born a Crime

Fish, Love, Making love, People

„Catch a man a fish, and you can sell it to him. Teach a man to fish, and you ruin a wonderful business opportunity“

— Karl Marx German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist 1818 - 1883

Attributed to Marx (possibly in jest) in W. C. Privy's Original Bathroom Companion (2003).
Misattributed

„She said
"I'm young enough
I'm old enough
In the city machine
Where industries
Fill the fish full of mercury"“

— Laura Nyro American musician and songwriter 1947 - 1997

"Money"
Lyrics

„Laughter for the soul, and wine for the body.“

— François Béroalde de Verville French writer 1556 - 1626

Le rire pour l'âme et le vin pour le corps.
Le Moyen de Parvenir (1617).
Unsourced

Soul, Laughter, Wine

„Sell a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will put you out of a job.“

— Ron English American artist 1959

Ron English's Fauxlosophy (2016)

„Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime. Teach a man to cycle and he will realize fishing is stupid and boring.“

— Desmond Tutu South African churchman, politician, archbishop, Nobel Prize winner 1931

Stupidity, Fish

„You grew up, became a man, had to adjust to taking less than you hoped for; you discovered the dream-machine had a big OUT OF ORDER sign on it.“

— Stephen King, Dreamcatcher

Source: Dreamcatcher

„The flavour of a fish which comes out of the sea at Acre is not similar to the flavour of a fish which comes out of the sea in Spain.“

— Rashi French rabbi and commentator 1040 - 1105

Commenting on Gen. 1:10; why does it say "seas", not "sea" - because the nature of the sea varies from place to place.
Commentary on Genesis

„Wine comes in at the mouth
And love comes in at the eye;
That's all we shall know for truth
Before we grow old and die.
I lift the glass to my mouth,
I look at you, and I sigh.“

— W.B. Yeats Irish poet and playwright 1865 - 1939

A Drinking Song http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/1399/
The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910)

Love, Truth, Wine

„You may think life is sweet now, but when death is a heartbeat away then life becomes unbearably desirable. And when you survive, everything you do will be enhanced and filled with greater joy: the sunlight, the breeze, a good wine, a woman's lips, a child's laughter.“

— David Gemmell, book Legend

Source: Drenai series, Legend, Pt 1: Against the Horde, Ch. 18

Life, Death, Thinking, Laughter

„They are not long, the days of wine and roses;
Out of a misty dream
Our path emerges for a while, then closes
Within a dream.“

— Ernest Dowson English writer 1867 - 1900

Vitae Summa Brevis Spem Nos Vetet Incohare Longam (1896). This title too is from Horace: "The short span of life forbids us to entertain long hopes."

„There's a vacancy, won't you come to me
And fill my empty spaces
I'm a motel man in a promised land
That's filled with empty faces
So won't you bring your sorrows bring your dreams,
It's a place for you to be
There's no more tomorrow or that's how it seems
Won't you come to me? I've got a vacancy“

— Harry Chapin American musician 1942 - 1981

Vacancy
Song lyrics, Verities & Balderdash (1974)

„If a man go into the London Docks sober without means of getting drunk, and comes out of one of the cellars very drunk wherein are a million gallons of wine, I think that would be reasonable evidence that he had stolen some of the wine in that cellar, though you could not prove that any wine was stolen, or any wine was missed.“

— William Henry Maule British politician 1788 - 1858

Reg. v. Burton (1854), Dearsly's C. C. 284.

„Without Ceres (bread) and Bacchus (wine) Venus (love) freezes.“
Sine Cerere et Baccho friget Venus

— Terence, Eunuchus

Act IV, scene 1, 1, line 5.
Eunuchus

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