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Anime and Manga
"[Gambino] was always drinking. Always, after he lost his leg in battle..."
— Guts to Casca while telling her about his dark and troubled childhood, Berserk
Comic Books
On average, it takes four minutes to smoke a cigarette. A bottle of whisky lasts two hours. But how bloody long can a man keep screaming? For as long as it hurts, mate, I suppose. I need more anesthetic. By the end of the bottle, the screaming has finally stopped. And I'm slightly pissed. I'm glad about that. 'Cause the ghosts are having a party and I don't seem to be welcome. One glance is all I get. Then everything catches fire around the edges. Luckily, I'm unconscious before my chin hits the concrete. I wake up with my head in a pool of spilled whiskey and vomit. My reflection in Papa Midnite's patent-leather shoes isn't a pretty sight.
At least the ghosts are gone.
At least the ghosts are gone.
—John Constantine, while standing vigil over a dying man, Hellblazer: A Feast Of Friends
Fairy Tales
Next day, early in the morning, little Master Misery began complaining. His head ached and he could not open his eyes, and he did not like the weather, and the children were crying, and there was no food in the house. He asked the peasant to come with him to the tavern again and forget all this wretchedness in a drink.
Fan Works
"Come on, dear. You can drown your sorrows in the cider."
— Dad, Calvin & Hobbes: The Series, "New Year, New Disasters"
"It's good wine. But it's not exactly something that will dull the pain."
— Kyril Sutherland, advising against this trope, The Night Unfurls
Films — Animated
"One minute you're defendin' the whole galaxy... and suddenly you find yourself suckin' down darjeeling with Marie Antoinette and her little sister."
— Buzz Lightyear, Toy Story
Films — Live-Action
"Everyone who drinks is not a "poet". Maybe some of us drink because we're not poets."
— Arthur, Arthur (1981)
Don: [at shot glass] Can you drown a woman in this?
Mike the bartender: How tall is she?
Mike the bartender: How tall is she?
— Easter Parade (1948)
"The smell of stale beer... and defeat."
Roger: Keep them coming 'til that's all used up.
Barman: Bitter?
Roger: Yeah, what do you think? (Beat) No, no, scotch, make it scotch. Large ones, the largest you've got.
Literature
He was vaguely aware that he drank to forget. What made it rather pointless was that he couldn't remember what it was he was forgetting anymore. In the end he just drank to forget about drinking.
"Why are you drinking?" demanded the little prince. "So that I may forget," replied the tippler. "Forget what?" inquired the little prince, who already was sorry for him. "Forget that I am ashamed," the tippler confessed, hanging his head. "Ashamed of what?" insisted the little prince, who wanted to help him. "Ashamed of drinking!" The tipler brought his speech to an end, and shut himself up in an impregnable silence.
He slept wherever he fell, a painful, dreamless sleep. He hardly ate, and drank a small loch-worth of whisky. He didn't even like whisky, but beer was too cumbersome to carry around in such quantities as to achieve oblivion.
He lost a stone in weight, and started shouting at people who weren't there.
Every evening, at around 5 pm, he'd stagger stark-naked into the drive-room and, waving his whiskey bottle dangerously in the air, he'd belch incoherent obscenities at Holly's huge visage on the gigantic monitor screen.
He lost a stone in weight, and started shouting at people who weren't there.
Every evening, at around 5 pm, he'd stagger stark-naked into the drive-room and, waving his whiskey bottle dangerously in the air, he'd belch incoherent obscenities at Holly's huge visage on the gigantic monitor screen.
— Red Dwarf: Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
Live-Action TV
"I was drinking to Emperor Cartagia... but he wasn't here, so I had to drink for him. So first it was me drinking for Cartagia, and then me drinking for me, and then I got caught in this cycle... and then Emperor Cartagia, his glass broke!"
"You won't turn to drink, will you? You stoic types often do, when disappointed in life."
— 'Marc Antony to a Not So Stoic Lucius Vorenus, Rome
Balthazar: Drinking your feelings, Sam? I thought that was your brother's bag.
Sam: Stressful times.
Sam: Stressful times.
Trudy: Have you been drinking?
Pete: The whole country's drinking, and not to celebrate some spoiled brat's wedding.
Pete: The whole country's drinking, and not to celebrate some spoiled brat's wedding.
— Mad Men, "The Grown Up"
"You know what's funny? I'm going through puberty. Twice. And I..." [chuckles] "I drank that whole bottle, didn't I? That's what you do when the world you love goes bye-bye. Poof, it's gone."
— Number Five having gotten completely shitfaced, The Umbrella Academy (2019), "Man On The Moon"
Music
Their tears are filling up their glasses
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
No expression, no expression
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow
No tomorrow, no tomorrow
— Tears for Fears/Gary Jules, "Mad World"
Full bottle in front of me
Time to roll up my sleeves and get to work
And after many glasses of work
I get paid in the brain
Time to roll up my sleeves and get to work
And after many glasses of work
I get paid in the brain
— They Might Be Giants, "Your Own Worst Enemy"
Went off to school and learned to serve the state
Followed the rules and drank his vodka straight
The only way to live was drown the hate
A Russian life was very sad
And such was life in Leningrad
Followed the rules and drank his vodka straight
The only way to live was drown the hate
A Russian life was very sad
And such was life in Leningrad
— Leningrad, Billy Joel
Now everybody's died, so until our tears are cried,
we'll drink and drink and drink and drink and then we'll drink some more.
We'll dance and sing and fight until the early mornin' light,
then we'll throw up, pass out, wake up and then go drinkin' once again.
we'll drink and drink and drink and drink and then we'll drink some more.
We'll dance and sing and fight until the early mornin' light,
then we'll throw up, pass out, wake up and then go drinkin' once again.
— Another Irish Drinking Song (everybody's died)
O alcohol, would you please forgive me?
For while I cannot love myself, I'll use something else
For while I cannot love myself, I'll use something else
—Barenaked Ladies, Alcohol
Cocaine and drinkin' with your friends
You live in the dark, boy, I cannot pretend
You live in the dark, boy, I cannot pretend
—Lil Nas X, Montero (Call Me By Your Name)
Here at the bar, who cares what I do
I'm all alone, but I'm drinking for two
Drowning the man that I used to be
Nobody loves you like me
I'm all alone, but I'm drinking for two
Drowning the man that I used to be
Nobody loves you like me
—Jonathan Coulton, "Nobody Loves You Like Me"
When the tears are in your eyes
You sing a drunken lullaby
You sing a drunken lullaby
— Battle Beast, "Eden"
And this Christmas, I got no gifts
Do I really deserve all this?
So I head straight down to the liquor store
Do I really deserve all this?
So I head straight down to the liquor store
— Jung Kook, "Too Sad to Dance"
Old Red Eyes is back
Red from the night before the night before
Walked into the wrong bar, walked into a door
Old Red's in town
And sitting late at night, he doesn't make a sound
Just adding to the wrinkles on his deathly frown
"They're only red from all the tears that I should've shed
They're only red from all the women that I could've wed
So, when you look into these eyes, I hope you realize
They could never be blue"
Red from the night before the night before
Walked into the wrong bar, walked into a door
Old Red's in town
And sitting late at night, he doesn't make a sound
Just adding to the wrinkles on his deathly frown
"They're only red from all the tears that I should've shed
They're only red from all the women that I could've wed
So, when you look into these eyes, I hope you realize
They could never be blue"
— The Beautiful South, "Old Red Eyes is Back"
Myths & Religion
"Let beer be for those who are perishing, wine for those who are in anguish! Let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more."
— Book of Proverbs, 31:6-7
Tabletop Games
Screw it! Let's get drunk! The Hollow Masters left on Earth might very well have wasted a lifetime seeking acceptance from the Council of Nine. Now the point is moot. The representatives of other Traditions might take this opportunity to finally and formally accept the Templars, the Ahl-i-Batin or some other anachronistic group - it doesn't really matter. If anyone has a right to be fatalistic at a time like this, it's the few pathetic Hollow One Masters and Oracles who have never achieved the recognition they deserve. The other Traditions probably think the Orphans will spend their final days working with ghosts and vampires anyway - and those groups won't be doing much better than mages as the world ends. Praise the gods and pass the absinthe. It's over.
—Mage: The Ascension - Ascension
Theatre
"It's true that people in the county are quick to say Jeppe drinks, but they never ask why Jeppe drinks."
Video Games
"I felt Kalikai's fear and anger. She hated what we had to do, turning against our own, and she worried what would happen to the Crimson Eyes. She wanted to join us - but she knew she couldn't. I wondered if that was why she became so intoxicated. Was she a soldier at heart, forced into the role of a general because of her brilliance, rather than ambition? Were the decisions that she had to make easier, when part of her was numb?"
— Igaso, Lusternia
"Hmm, Lord Pendleton said he would meet us here. I'd check the wine cellar. Losing family gives a man a thirst."
— Samuel, Dishonored
"I had been at the bar for three hours, or five years, depending on how you looked at things."
— Max Payne, Max Payne 3
"I served my time on the councils of Vienna, Berlin, Venice... we pontificated with archaic words in dead languages. Beyond our little parliaments, the mysteries were trampled, one after another; we did nothing. The pride of the Templars has turned to rigor mortis. I cannot unsee it now, huh? Like an immaculate mouth with a front tooth missing. We claim to stand against the darkness, but no, we slump in our Renaissance chairs, picking listlessly at the velvet. Ja, but I have said enough. I will douse my disappointment in another pint of what goes for beer around here. Dull, tepid, and creamlike. Not unlike the current state of inter-factional diplomacy, but not what the trappists had in mind, I'm sure. Luella? Refill!"
"Any crisis can be turned into a drinking game. Case in point, the Forest God. Every time someone snaps a twig, bottoms up. The empties give us an idea of how things are going out there.
I've counted; things are not going well."
I've counted; things are not going well."
— Kirsten Geary, The Secret World
"Wouldn't it be great if we could dissolve our troubles and just drink them away?"
"I thought to try and drown my sorrows... but somehow... the bottle's never deep enough."
— Magnus, Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
"You again? You should know better than to bother someone who is drowning their sorrows. Your needs do not concern me. I am but a widow wishing to grieve in peace at the bottom of her bottle. My husband, Bloom, and my son, Ishtore, both slain by the resistance... Ulster stolen. How much must I bear? All that remains of House Friege are myself and Ishtar...and it's all the fault of that insipid brat Seliph! Does my tortured soul please you? I am not here to be your entertainment. Begone before I lose my temper..."
—Queen Hilda, Fire Emblem Heroes
Webcomics
Faye: Gimme a coping mechanism on the rocks.
Wil: I don't believe I know that drink.
Faye: It's easy. You put two ice cubes in a glass, then dump 'em out and fill it with bourbon.
Wil: I don't believe I know that drink.
Faye: It's easy. You put two ice cubes in a glass, then dump 'em out and fill it with bourbon.
Hannelore: My doctor says self-medicating with alcohol is a very unhealthy—
Marten: I'm not gonna self-medicate. I'm gonna get drunk.
Marten: I'm not gonna self-medicate. I'm gonna get drunk.
Web Original
"This is tequila! We're going to take shots until life feels good again!"
— Dora, DORA THE GROWNUP 2
Web Video
Eggman: Aw, that piss-lovin' son of a bitch, I'll miss him. Aw, Tails, hand me another drink...
Tails: I think you need a therapist and not a bottle.
Eggman: I think you need to shut your mouth with your three tails...nine-tailed fox Naruto-looking motherfucker!
— Real-Time Fandub, Sonic Adventure 2 (Dark Story + Final Story)
Western Animation
"Owen, I failed the park. I failed the city, and I failed the world. So I'm just going to get drunk on mulled wine and not fail at doing that."
— Paige Hunter, Central Park, Season 2 "The Lyin' in Winter"
"Look, if you've got a problem, you're not gonna find the solution at the bottom of a bottle. I should know, I've been looking there a long time."
— Husk, Hazbin Hotel
Homer: (walking in with Apu) Moe, what do you recommend for severe depression?
Moe: (pouring beer) Booze, booze, and more booze.
Lenny: Huh, nothing like a depressant to chase the blues away.
— The Simpsons, "The Two Mrs. Nahasapeemapetilons"
Real Life
"I tried to drown my sorrows, but the bastards learned how to swim, and now I am overwhelmed by this decent and good feeling."
— Frida Kahlo
"Is it bad when you refer to alcohol as 'pain-go-bye-bye juice'?"
[right side up] If you can read this, your team is winning.
[upside down] If you can read this, your team is losing.
— Printed on the side of a shot glass
"Never gamble out of need, and never drink out of despair."
— Unknown
