Beer quotes

For 4 years now, I've planned an annual weekend beer event for my friends. Part of the planning is designing a t-shirt that everyone in the group wears. One of the elements that I always like to put on the t-shirt is a beer quote from a historical figure of some sort.

When you look up "beer quotes" on the 'net, you can usually find quite a few sites that have some listed. Some are funny, some are poetic, and some quite meaningful. A majority of them are aimed at getting a laugh. I find that my favorites are the quotes that come from important figures in history. So far, I have designed 2 t-shirts for our annual event, and here are the quotes I've used so far.

"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." - Benjamin Franklin

Doesn't that just make you feel like you truly deserve to be happy by having a beer? However, I just recently learned that this is a misquote. Apparently the actual quote was, "Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy." At least I was only off by one word, right?

"Most people hate the taste of beer to begin with. It is, however, a prejudice that many people have been able to overcome." - Winston Churchill

Now, I realize that Winston Churchill has a lot of drinking quotes, but this one is my favorite. Winston stated that perfectly, because most people don't enjoy their first taste of beer. Most still manage to drink it, though. I am a beer lover, but I had to work to acquire that taste.

Right now I am in the process of designing the t-shirt for our 4th year. In researching beer quotes I found 2 that interested me. The first:

"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts, and beer." - Abraham Lincoln

How awesome is it that old Honest Abe himself made this comment? Pretty awesome. However, it's a little lengthy for a t-shirt. Plus, I found one that I liked better. Here it is:

"I believe this would be a good time for a beer."

Sounds too simple, right? It is short and sweet, but what really makes it cool is who said it and when it was said. This was stated by Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the signing of the 21st Amendment. In case you didn't know, the 21st Amendment ended Prohibition. How cool is this quote?