Abstainer Quotes & Sayings

An abstainer is the sort of man you wouldn't want to drink with even if he did. — George Jean Nathan

There were tiny drops along the roots of her shining hair for the climb had been steep and now the shadow of disappointment darkened her eyes. — John Fox Jr.

Be proud to act like a normal human being. Keep daylight hours, get a regular job, and mix in the company of people with a fixed sense of right and wrong.
The Abstainer's Handbook (second edition, p. 89) — Matt Haig

When I'm wrong I'm like the Emperor on the Death Star thinking he'll turn Luke. Yet, when I'm right I'm a Jedi like my father before me. — Dane Cook

In elections in Iceland, I have always been an abstainer. It seems like politics is such a small bundle of self-important people, who don't have much to do with things I'm interested in. — Bjork

There are no heroes in chess. — Corry Evans

I peeled his fingers from my lips. "That was unnecessary." I said. "I was only surprised at your statement, after you have consistently disclaimed any interest in the matter. In fact, I too have discovered the identity of the person in question." "Oh, you have, have you?" "Yes, I have." We studied one another warily. "Would you care to enlighten me?" Emerson inquired. "No. I think I know; but if I am wrong you will never let me hear the end of it. Perhaps you will enlighten me." "No." "Ha! You are not sure either." "I said as much." Again we exchanged measuring glances. "You have no proof," I said. "That is the difficulty. And you - " "Not — Elizabeth Peters

His political and social speeches were cataracts of anecdotes and "loud laughter"; his bodily health was of a bursting sort; his ethics were all optimism; and he dealt with the Drink problem (his favourite topic) with that immortal or even monotonous gaiety which is so often a mark of the prosperous total abstainer. The established story of his conversion was familiar on the more puritanic platforms and pulpits, how he had been, when only a boy, drawn away from Scotch theology to Scotch whisky, and how he had risen out of both and become (as he modestly put it) what he was. Yet his wide white beard, cherubic face, and sparkling spectacles, at the numberless dinners and congresses where they appeared, made it hard to believe, somehow, that he had ever been anything so morbid as either a dram-drinker or a Calvinist. He was, one felt, the most seriously merry of all the sons of men. — Wilkie Collins

Get a job writing fortune cookies instead. I could try to write really American ones. Already, I've jotted down a few of them. Objects create happiness. The animals are pleased to be of use. Your cities will shine forever. Death will not touch you. — Jenny Offill

Every time you come in from cheating on someone, they'll just whip out the most adorable term of endearment. Like, they'll wake up, bright and early, sleep in their eyes and say: "Hey, perfect." — Dane Cook

Since Troo was in her office at least once a week for doing one bad thing or another, Sister told me she's thinking of having the chair in the corner of her office engraved permanently with Troo's name. (If she bothered to look at the back, she could save a few bucks. Troo stole a penknife out of the Five and Dime last summer.) — Lesley Kagen

My head's not in the clouds, but I think I've gotten too much credit for being an astute businessman. — Steven Spielberg

Abstainer: a weak person who yields to the temptation of denying himself a pleasure. — Ambrose Bierce

Unless I am mistaken, it was Mr. Welch himself (an adamant total abstainer) who persuaded American Protestantism to abandon what the Lord obviously thought rather kindly of. — Robert Farrar Capon

A total abstainer is one who abstains from everything but abstention, and especially from inactivity in the affairs of others. — Ambrose Bierce

THERE IS NO mystery to happiness. Unhappy men are alike. Some wound they suffered long ago, some wish denied, some blow to pride, some kindling spark of love put out by scorn
or worse, indifference
cleaves to them, or they to it, and so they live each day within a shroud of yesterdays. The happy man does not look back. He doesn't look ahead. He lives in the present. — Jed Rubenfeld

There's a difference between winning and losing and not trying at all. — Tim Huelskamp

I will not pretend to justify this espionage I carried on, and I will say openly that all these signs of a life full of intellectual curiosity, but thoroughly slovenly and disorderly at the same time, inspired me at first with aversion and mistrust. I am not only a middle-class man, living a regular life, fond of work and punctuality; I am also an abstainer and a nonsmoker, and these bottles in Haller's room pleased me even less than the rest of his artistic disorder. — Hermann Hesse

Wine had such ill effects on Noah's health that it was all he could do to live 950 years. Show me a total abstainer that ever lived that long. — Will Rogers

Well, we studied a lot of books and things like that. Denzel has a personal experience with it, not himself, that's his business-I won't get into that, but he knows a lot about it as well. So, we took some real life experiences that we both-I've been told that I have OCD. — Antoine Fuqua

I think it is in the interest of the people of [Serbia] that no one, not even the government, can get away with the crime, whoever the victim. — Michael Kirby

A conversation with a Moderator friend revealed another telling distinction. "I got a sundae from my favorite ice-cream store," she told me, "and it was delicious. But after a while, I could hardly taste it. I let a friend finish it." "I've never left ice cream unfinished in my life," I said. For Moderators, the first bite tastes the best, and then their pleasure gradually drops, and they might even stop eating before they're finished. For Abstainers, however, the desire for each bite is just as strong as for the first bite - or stronger, so they may want seconds, too. In other words, for Abstainers, having something makes them want it more; for Moderators, having something makes them want it less. — Gretchen Rubin

I give nightly praise to my Maker that I never cast a ballot to bring that lazy, disreputable, ill-tempered beast into what was once my home. I'm glad that I had the courage to go on record as opposing that illegitimate, shameless flea-bag that now shares my bed and board. You abstainer, you! — Frank B. Gilbreth Jr.

Dipsomaniac and the abstainer are not only both mistaken, but they both make the same mistake. They both regard wine as a drug and not as a drink. — Gilbert K. Chesterton

Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political moral questions of our time. — Martin Luther King Jr.

I'm a recovering abstainer — Dean Cavanagh

Now that I know I'm an Upholder, an Abstainer, a Marathoner, a Finisher, and a Lark, and have spent a lot of time thinking about what is, and isn't, important to me, I'm much better able to shape my habits. — Gretchen Rubin

Like Dr. Johnson, I'm an Abstainer: I find it far easier to give up something altogether than to indulge moderately. And this distinction has profound implications for habits. — Gretchen Rubin

For years, I have worked diligently to develop and implement a 21st century manufacturing strategy that will create jobs in the new clean energy economy. — Debbie Stabenow

Sometimes the best, and only effective, way to kill an idea is to put it into practice. — Sydney J. Harris