"Coffee and smoking are the last great addictions"
About this Quote
The intent is half confession, half defense. By calling them “great,” Boyle elevates what’s socially permissible into something almost romantic - a minor rebellion you can still do in public without needing an app, a therapist, or a PR statement. The subtext nods to a world where indulgence has been reorganized: sex, food, drugs, even shopping have been moralized, quantified, or pushed behind closed doors. Meanwhile, coffee is coded as productivity’s fuel, and cigarettes (in the era her persona peaked) as style, pause, and attitude. Pairing them makes a neat portrait of modern coping: the stimulant that keeps you functional and the toxin that gives you a break from being functional.
There’s also a quiet nostalgia here for addiction as ritual, not just pathology - the smoke break as social space, the coffee as daily punctuation. “Last” implies the crackdown has already happened, and what remains are the vices that can still pass as personality: the mug, the lighter, the little exhale that says you’re in on the joke.
Quote Details
| Topic | Coffee |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Boyle, Lara Flynn. (2026, January 17). Coffee and smoking are the last great addictions. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/coffee-and-smoking-are-the-last-great-addictions-69178/
Chicago Style
Boyle, Lara Flynn. "Coffee and smoking are the last great addictions." FixQuotes. January 17, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/coffee-and-smoking-are-the-last-great-addictions-69178/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Coffee and smoking are the last great addictions." FixQuotes, 17 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/coffee-and-smoking-are-the-last-great-addictions-69178/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.






