"There are two reasons for drinking: one is, when you are thirsty, to cure it; the other, when you are not thirsty, to prevent it"
About this Quote
Peacock’s joke is built like a syllogism that eats its own tail: drink to end thirst, drink to make sure thirst never has a chance to begin. The wit isn’t just in the neat symmetry; it’s in the way it exposes how easily “reasons” become alibis. By offering two motivations that cover every possible state of the body, he turns a vice into a closed logical system. You can’t argue with it because it preempts the objection. The punchline is that rationality, deployed cleverly enough, can sanctify anything.
The subtext is a quiet skewering of a particular kind of gentlemanly self-image. Early 19th-century British social life treated drinking as both lubricant and badge: clubland conviviality, country-house dinners, and the sturdy performance of appetite as character. Peacock, a satirist with a reformer’s raised eyebrow, understands that people rarely drink because they’ve run a cost-benefit analysis. They drink because the ritual is expected, because the moment is awkward, because abstaining would mean opting out of the room.
“Prevent it” is the tell: it borrows the language of prudence and medicine, as if alcohol were prophylaxis rather than temptation. That phrasing parodies the era’s emerging faith in tidy, utilitarian reasoning - the idea that every habit can be justified as sensible management. Peacock’s line lands because it catches a perennial human trick: converting desire into duty, then calling it moderation. The laugh is recognition, with a faint aftertaste of indictment.
The subtext is a quiet skewering of a particular kind of gentlemanly self-image. Early 19th-century British social life treated drinking as both lubricant and badge: clubland conviviality, country-house dinners, and the sturdy performance of appetite as character. Peacock, a satirist with a reformer’s raised eyebrow, understands that people rarely drink because they’ve run a cost-benefit analysis. They drink because the ritual is expected, because the moment is awkward, because abstaining would mean opting out of the room.
“Prevent it” is the tell: it borrows the language of prudence and medicine, as if alcohol were prophylaxis rather than temptation. That phrasing parodies the era’s emerging faith in tidy, utilitarian reasoning - the idea that every habit can be justified as sensible management. Peacock’s line lands because it catches a perennial human trick: converting desire into duty, then calling it moderation. The laugh is recognition, with a faint aftertaste of indictment.
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| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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