“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.”
Virginia Woolf
Good FoodWellbeing
Food Quotes
201 FAMOUS QUOTES · FOOD
Food Quotes
Read the best food quotes from Brillat-Savarin, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, the Bible and more, with delicious words about eating, cooking and sharing meals.
“Animals feed themselves; men eat; but only wise men know how to eat.”
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Eating WellWisdom
“The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they are fed.”
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Food And SocietyHistory
“To invite people to dine with us is to make ourselves responsible for their well-being as long as they are under our roof.”
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
HospitalityHosting
“Cooks are made, roasters are born.”
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
CookingChefs
“Gourmandise is an impassioned, considered and habitual preference for whatever pleases the taste.”
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
FoodiesTaste
“Those persons who suffer from indigestion, or who become drunk, are utterly ignorant of the true principles of eating and drinking.”
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
ModerationEating Well
“Poultry is for the cook what canvas is for the painter.”
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
CookingChicken
“The table is the only place where one does not get bored during the first hour.”
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
DiningFunny
“He perceived that food is Brahman.”
The Upanishads
Sacred FoodSpirituality
“The beginning and the root of all good is the pleasure of the stomach.”
Epicurus
PleasurePhilosophy
“Other men live to eat, but I eat to live.”
Socrates
ModerationPhilosophy
“For we do not invite one another merely to eat and drink, but to eat and drink together.”
Plutarch
Sharing MealsFriendship
“He did not dislike to have his rice finely cleaned, nor to have his mince meat cut quite small.”
Confucius
RiceCooking
“He who distinguishes the true savor of his food can never be a glutton; he who does not cannot be otherwise.”
Henry David Thoreau
Mindful EatingTaste
“I learned from my two years' experience that it would cost incredibly little trouble to obtain one's necessary food, even in this latitude.”
Henry David Thoreau
Simple LivingSelf Sufficiency
“I have lived temperately, eating little animal food, and that not as an aliment, so much as a condiment for the vegetables, which constitute my principal diet.”
Thomas Jefferson
VegetablesHealthy Eating
“Nothing helps scenery like ham and eggs.”
Mark Twain
BreakfastFunny
“It is the chief of this world's luxuries. When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat.”
Mark Twain
WatermelonSummer
“Who riseth from a feast with that keen appetite that he sits down?”
William Shakespeare
FeastsAppetite
“Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast.”
William Shakespeare
HospitalityFeasts
“Master, I marvel how the fishes live in the sea. Why, as men do a-land; the great ones eat up the little ones.”
William Shakespeare
FishFunny
“Your worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for maggots.”
William Shakespeare
Dark HumourLife
“Your fat king and your lean beggar is but variable service, two dishes, but to one table.”
William Shakespeare
EqualityDining
“If you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek.”
William Shakespeare
VegetablesFunny
Related Topics
About Food Quotes
Food is so much more than fuel. It is comfort after a long day, the centre of every celebration, the taste of home and the easiest way to bring people together. From ancient philosophers and the writers of the Bible to Shakespeare, Mark Twain and the world's first great food writer, people have always loved talking about what they eat.
This collection brings together 200 of the best food quotes from Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, Charles Lamb, the Upanishads, the Bible and more. Some celebrate cooking, some celebrate sharing a table, and a few will make you hungry right away. For more on healthy eating, explore our [Diet Quotes](/topics/diet-quotes).
Frequently asked questions
Quick answers about Food quotes.
What is the most famous quote about food?
Virginia Woolf's line, "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well," is one of the most loved quotes about food. Brillat-Savarin's "The destiny of nations depends on the manner in which they are fed" is another classic.
Who was Brillat-Savarin?
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin was a French lawyer and food lover whose 1825 book, The Physiology of Taste, is one of the first great books about the joy of eating. Many of the most quoted lines about food and hospitality come from him.
What does the Bible say about food?
The Bible describes a land "flowing with milk and honey," tells of manna that tasted "like wafers made with honey," and shows Jesus sharing five loaves and two fishes until everyone "did all eat, and were filled."
What are funny food quotes?
Mark Twain said, "Nothing helps scenery like ham and eggs," and Beatrix Potter warned that eating too much lettuce is "soporific." A. A. Milne's favourite short, easy words were "What about lunch?"
What are good quotes about sharing meals?
Plutarch said we invite one another not merely to eat and drink, "but to eat and drink together," and Shakespeare wrote that "Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast."
What are good short food quotes for Instagram?
Try "Nothing helps scenery like ham and eggs," "Cooks are made, roasters are born," "I am no Quaker at my food," or "Out of the strong came forth sweetness."