“He who loves not wine, women and song remains a fool his whole life long.”

“The wine of Love is music,
And the feast of Love is song:
And when Love sits down to the banquet,
Love sits long:

Sits long and rises drunken,
But not with the feast and the wine;
He reeleth with his own heart,
That great, rich Vine.”

“He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.”

“Fill ev'ry glass, for wine inspires us,
And fires us
With courage, love and joy.
Women and wine should life employ.
Is there ought else on earth desirous?”

“Just as a Philistine does not on the whole devote his life to his art, so a misogynist does not devote his inner life to women. Larkin's men friends devolved into pen-pals. Such intimacies as he shared, he shared with women.”

“Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl, and her laughter was a question he wanted to spend his whole life answering.”

“Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway,
And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray.”

“He who remains with himself for a long time, degrades.”

“It no longer matters what song he is singing, or who wrote the words — ​they are all his words, his sentiments, they are chapters from the lyrical novel of his life.”

“A Bachelor of Arts is one who makes love to a lot of women, and yet has the art to remain a bachelor.”