Tea Quotes:

If you are cold, tea will warm you;
If you are too heated, it will cool you;
If you are depressed, it will cheer you;
If you are excited, it will calm you.  

all nighter by elastica  

"Got to get some fags and make some tea"  

submitted by eleanor an stu  

Japanese Proverb  

"If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty."  

Henry James. The Portrait of a Lady.  

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."  

Lu T'ung  

"I am in no way interested in immortality, but only in the taste of tea."  

Daniel Johns~ from silverchair  

"There is always a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea."  

Six veteran authors have formed a small press called BelleBooks ~ A quote from Sweet Tea and Jesus Shoes ~ a collection of Southern short stories.  

"In the south, you can't marry a man until you know how his mama makes sweet tea."  

Great-grandma Jewel~She lived to be 108 years old  

"Tea is a cup of life"  

Bernard-Paul Heroux - 1900s Basque philosopher  

There is no trouble so great or grave
that cannot be much diminished
by a nice cup of tea.  

Attributed to both Eleanor Roosevelt and Nancy Reagan  

Women are like tea bags. They don't know how strong they are until they get into hot water.  

Samuel Johnson (1709-84), English author, lexicographer.  

Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence.
"Review of A Journal of Eight Days' Journey," in Literary Magazine, vol. 2, no. 13 (London, 1757; repr. in Works, vol. 6, 1825).
Nonetheless, Johnson confessed in the article to being "a hardened and shameless tea-drinker, who has, for twenty years, diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and, with tea, welcomes the morning." James Boswell vouched for this passion in his Life of Samuel Johnson: "I suppose no person ever enjoyed with more relish the infusion of that fragrant leaf than Johnson" (entry for 1756).  

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-94), U.S. writer, physician. Over the Teacups, ch. 1 (1891).  

The morning cup of coffee has an exhiliration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce.  

Henry David Thoreau (1817-62), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. Walden, "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For" (1854).  

To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit it and read it are old women over their tea. 

Lu Yu (d. 804), Chinese sage, hermit. Quoted in: Jason Goodwin, The Gunpowder Gardens, Introduction (1990), from the Cha Ching.  

The best quality tea must have creases like the leathern boot of Tartar horsemen, curl like the dewlap of a mighty bullock, unfold like a mist rising out of a ravine, gleam like a lake touched by a zephyr, and be wet and soft like a fine earth newly swept by rain.  

T.S. Eliot, from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"  

"Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea."  

Anonymous  

Tea pot is on, the cups are waiting,
Favorite chairs anticipating,
No matter what I have to do,
My friend there's always time for you.  

said of tea by Lu Yu, in his 8th-century Ch'a Ching, as translated by F. R. Carpenter.  

"its goodness is a decision for the mouth to make."  

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)  

"The privileges of the side-table included the small prerogatives of sitting next to the toast, and taking two cups of tea to other people's one."  

Sir Arthur Pinero  

"Where there's tea there's hope"  

Okakura  

"Tea with us became more than an idealization of the form of drinking; it is a religion of the art of life."  

Honore De Balzac  

"Great love affairs start with Champagne and end with tisane."  

An exchange between Lady Astor and Winston Churchill that took place in the Houses of Parliament one day.  

Lady Astor (infuriated): Mister Churchill, if I were your wife, I'd put poison in your tea.
Churchill: Madam, were I your husband, I would surely drink it.  

Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) Untitled  

So hear it then, my Rennie dear,
Nor hear it with a frown;
You cannot make the tea so fast
As I can gulp it down.
I therefore pray thee, Rennie dear,
That thou wilt give to me
With cream and sugar softened well,
Another dish of tea.  

 

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) "The Song of Right and Wrong"  

Tea, although an Oriental
Is a gentleman at least;
Cocoa is a cad and coward,
Cocoa is a vulgar beast. 

Gladstone (1865) Victorian British Prime Minister  

If you are cold, tea will warm you;
If you are too heated, it will cool you;
If you are depressed, it will cheer you;
If you are excited, it will calm you.  

T.S. Eliot ~ The Naming of Cats  

The naming of teas is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your everyday games-
Some might think you as mad as a hatter
Should you tell them each goes by several names.
For starters each tea in this world must belong
To the families Black or Green or Oolong;
Then look more closely as these family trees-
Some include Indians along with Chinese 

 

From The Beatles "All Too Much"

"Sail me on a silver sun

Where I know that I'm free

Show me that I'm everywhere

And get me home for tea"

submitted by Mark Garvin

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From Twin Peaks, Episode 5

"Tea first. Then be ready."

submitted by Kell Brigan

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From Monty Python's Flying Circus

(The Pepperpot Ladies on a Submarine)

"Red alert. Put the kettle on!"

submitted by Kell Brigan

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Tea Conversation

Typical Tea conversation at my house -

" . . .Would you like some tea?"

"Okay."

"Alright, I've got chamomile, I've got chamomile mango, I've got chamomile mint, I've got peppermint, I've got spearmint, I've got evening mint, I've got plantation mint, I've got. . . don't look at me like that, it's my sister's fault, SHE did this to me. . . where was I, . . . I've got Evening Jewel, I've got tangerine, I've got. . ."

submitted by Brett Gv.

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From a Belle and Sebastians song

After their tea when life begins again, They'll be happier than me.

submitted by turrolate

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From the book, "Afternoon Tea at Pittock Mansion" Quote by Haddyr Leigh

If your tongue trips over 'oolong' and there's no place for your spoon,

If you end up with your cookie on your knee

If dainty conversation leaves you speechless far too soon,

You need some help surviving Ladies' Tea.

submitted by H. Kibbey for the Pittock Mansion Society

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From the book, "Afternoon Tea at Pittock Mansion" Quote by R.Z. Berry

Cook, Cook, drink your tea,
But save some in the pot for me.
We'll watch the tea leaves in our cup
When our drink is all sipped up.
Happiness or fortune great,
What will our future be?

submitted by H. Kibbey for the Pittock Mansion Society

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Tea quotes from Grateful Dead songs (next 6)�.Alligator - Lyrics: Robert Hunter, Ron McKernan (Pigpen) - Music: Phil Lesh, Ron McKernan (Pigpen)

Call for his whiskey, he can call for his tea

Call all he wants to but he can't call me

submitted by Lori

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Don't Ease Me In - Lyrics/Music: Traditional

She brings me coffee, you know she brings me tea

She brings 'bout every damn thing but the jailhouse key

submitted by Lori

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Doin' That Rag - Lyrics: Robert Hunter - Music: Jerry Garcia

Baby baby, pretty young on Tuesday

Old like a rum drinking demon at tea

submitted by Lori

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Easy Wind - Lyrics/Music: Robert Hunter

Gotta find a woman be good to me

Won't hide my liquor try, to serve me tea.

submitted by Lori

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Scarlet Begonias - Lyrics: Robert Hunter - Music: Jerry Garcia

The wind in the willows playing Tea for Two

The sky was yellow and the sun was blue

Strangers stopping strangers just to shake their hand

Everybody�s playing in the heart of gold band

submitted by Lori

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Spoonful - Lyrics/Music: Willie Dixon (Tea quote from Howlin' Wolf song)

Well it might be a spoonful of coffee

Might be a spoonful of tea

Just a little spoon of your precious love

Good enough for me

submitted by Lori

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"Tea for Two - 1913" from "UN ADULTERIO MANTOVANO" by Giovanni Nuvoletti

"Un lieve 'romore' annunci� che il t� era servito ... Il Conte pass� dietro un paravento che incorniciava una stampa francese a soggetto erotico, le nudit� di Psiche in un volo di amorini. Attraverso una apertura cieca della parete, era entrata una guantiera d'argento del settecento, faticosa da reggere per il carico di teiere, lattiere, caffettiere coperte di morbidi panni ... Non mancavano i fiori, delicate gardenie di serra sparse fra graziose alzate di antico vermeille e le tazze di S�vres.

[...] Posato tutto su un tavolo Luigi XVI basso davanti al divano, Vezio, come invitandola, le mormor� commosso: "Ricordate, Francesca ..."

submitted by Mirella M.P. Grillo (Mental Trainer)

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"Maria's Tea from "IL PIACERE" by Gabriele d'Annunzio

"Ti far� il t� - disse. Egli si accendeva, vedendola sul divano, tra i cuscini. Avvenne nel suo spirito, una s�bita sovrapposizione dell'immagine di Elena. "Lasciami alzare!" preg� Maria.

[...] "Voglio che tu beva il mio t�. Sentirai. Il profumo t'arriver� all'anima". Parlava d'un t� prezioso giuntole da Calcutta, ch'ella aveva donato ad Andrea il giorno innanzi.

[...] Un profumo acuto si spandeva nell'aria, col vapore. Andrea l'aspir�. Poi disse, chiudendo gli occhi, rovesciando indietro il capo: "Baciami. E appena ebbe il contatto delle labbra, trasal� tanto forte che Maria ne fu sorpresa. Ella vers� in una tazza la bevanda e gliela offerse, con un sorriso misterioso. "Bada, c'� un filtro. Egli rifiut� l'offerta. "Non voglio bere a quella tazza. "Perch�? "Dammi tu da bere. "Ma come? "Cos�. Prendi un sorso e non inghiottire. "Scotta troppo ancora". Ella rideva, a quel capriccio dell'amante.

[...] Aspettarono che il t� si raffreddasse. "Ora si pu� bere", annunzi�. "Ora prendi un bel sorso. Cos�. Ella teneva le labbra serrate, per contenere il sorso, ma le ridevano i grandi occhi a cui le lacrime recenti avevano dato maggior fulgore. "Ora versa, a poco a poco. Egli trasse nel bacio, suggendo, tutto il sorso.

submitted by Mirella M.P. Grillo (Mental Trainer)

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"Elena's Tea" from "IL PIACERE" by Gabriele d'Annunzio

"Accese la lampada sotto il vaso dell'acqua; apr� la scatola di lacca, dov'era conservato il t�, e mise nella porcellana una quantit� misurata d'aroma; poi prepar� due tazze. I suoi gesti erano lenti e un poco irresoluti, le sue mani bianche e purissime avevano nel muoversi una leggerezza quasi di farfalle ...Andrea, seduto da presso, la guardava.

[...] Ambedue tacevano. Il vaso dell'acqua cominci� a levare il bollore pianamente. Elena s'era chinata sul tavolo, poich� il vapore fuggiva, per la commessura del coperchio, dal vaso bollente. Vers� appena un poco d'acqua sul t�; poi mise due pezzi di zucchero in una sola tazza; poi vers� sul t� altra acqua; poi spense la fiamma azzurra. Ella fece tutto questo con una cura quasi tenera, senza mai volgersi ad Andrea. [...] Come egli levava gli occhi, Elena gli offer� la tazza fumante, con un sorriso un poco velato dalla lacrima.Vide egli quel velo; e innanzi a quell'inaspettato velo di tenerezza fu invaso da un tale impeto d'amore e di riconoscenza che pos� la tazza, s'inginocchi�, prese la mano di Elena, sopra vi mise la bocca. "Elena! Elena!"

submitted by Mirella M.P. Grillo (Mental Trainer)

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from Samurai Jack, Episode 9

"OK, who ordered the green tea?"

submitted by Kell Brigan

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Quote from "A bridge too Far"

Corporal Hancock: Sir. [Offers mug of tea.]

Major General Urquhart: Hancock. I've got lunatics laughing at me from the woods. My original plan has been scuppered now that the jeeps haven't arrived. My communications are completely broken down. Do you really believe any of that can be helped by a cup of tea?

Corporal Hancock: Couldn't hurt, sir. [Urquhart accepts his mug of tea.]

submitted by Jonathan Kibrick

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and one from father ted

MRS. DOYLE: Do you think would our new guest like a cup of tea Father? The little sheep fellow.

TED: I don't think they drink tea Mrs. Doyle. Not unless you have some special sheep tea. (laughs)

MRS. DOYLE: Yes.

TED: What?

MRS. DOYLE: I do have some sheep tea in the kitchen.

TED: Right well em.. Give him some of that then.

MRS. DOYLE: Okay so.

submitted by eleanor an stu

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waking up by elastica

Make a cup of tea, and put a record on

submitted by eleanor an stu

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all nighter by elastica

"Got to get some fags and make some tea"

submitted by eleanor an stu

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from monty pythons flying circus (hells grannies sketch), it was on the back of their leather jackets

"Make tea not war"

submitted by eleanor an stu

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-Okakura Kakuzo, 1906

"Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order."

submitted by Nicola Sanders

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Another Star Trek quote:-- Worf, trying to be diplomatic (The Survivors)

"Good tea. Nice house."

submitted by evay

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Thomas De Quincey

"Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside: candles at four o'clock, warm hearth rugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without."

submitted by Unknown

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From Erykah Badu's song "On and On":

"I think I need a cup of tea, the world keeps burnin, Oh what a day, what a day what a day."

submitted by Crystal Woods

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Sydney Smith (1771-1845) "Recipe for Salad. p. 383."

Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea?-how did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea.

submitted by Candy Gobrecht

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Unknown

Tea es todo y tea es la vida!
Tea is everything and tea is life!

submitted by Michelle

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From Mary Poppin's song "A Spoonful of Sugar"

"...it changes bread and water into tea and cakes..."

submitted by Kyla Kinzler

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Kevin Spacey from "The Shipping News"

"Tea's a good drink. It'll keep you going."

submitted by Janice Kirk / Heather

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"Tea before Christmas", from upcoming book "A Wreath of Twisted Thorn" by Mark DeBolt

" I sat with a delicate cup
of Earl Grey black orange pekoe tea,
 resenting the heat on my lip.

 The blinking Joseph-coated bulbs
made veneers on my cup as unlikely
 as Baptist preachers wearing albs.

 Skilled Cecilia Brauer played
a glass armonica on a cd,
 Silent Night strangely sanctified.

 Outside the eager half-eyed moon
peered through the frosty glass as frostily
 as a lame snowman views the sun.

 You re-entered the room and sat
cross-legged on the floor across from me,
 and asked, "Another tea biscuit?"

 And how could I refuse that gift?
In your voice I heard the nativity
 so incongruous that I laughed.

 You laughed too, and I understood
for half a moment the full mystery
 of all that's beautiful and good."

submitted by Mark DeBolt

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John Lennon, The Beatles "Good Morning Good Morning"

"It's time for tea and meet the wife"

submitted by rv74

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Eric Idle as Dirk McQuickly in "The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash"

"I have had tea...lots of tea...Indian tea...and biscuits."

submitted by rv74

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No Proper Coffee?, I'll have Tea!

"What we want is a proper cup of coffee
Made in a proper copper coffee pot.
I may be...off my tot
But I want a cup of coffee from a proper coffee pot.
A tin coffee pot, an iron coffee pot,
They're no good to me.
If I can't have coffee from a proper copper coffee pot
I'll have a cup of tea!"

submitted by Jon Talbot, Gloucestershire, England

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Singing in England

"There are two well-known popular songs of the 1920's: "Ev'rything stops for tea" and "I like a nice cup of tea in the morning", which are still well-known in Britain."

submitted by Jon Talbot, Gloucestershire, England

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I'm a Little Tea-Pot

"There is an action game for very small children.
One arm is held out straight (the spout)
and the other is bent
so that the hand is on the hip (the handle).
Then the child recites:
I'm a little tea-pot, short and stout.
Here's my handle. Here's my spout.
Do you want a cup of tea?
Tip me up and pour me out!"

submitted by Jon Talbot, Gloucestershire, England

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From "Withnail and I"

"I [narrating]:
If the Crow and Crown had ever had life it was dead now. It was like walking into a lung. A self-sustained nicotin-yellow and fly-blown lung. Its landlord was a retired alcoholic with military pretentions and a complection like the inside of a teapot. By the time the doors opened he was arseholed on rum and got progresively more arseholed until he could take no more and fell over at about twelve 'o' clock."

submitted by Paul Cartwright

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From "Withnail and I"

"Withnail:
We'll have tea and cake.
[An elderly man comes across to their table. He is the proprietor]
Proprietor:
Did you hear her? She said she's closed. What do you want in here?
Withnail:
Cake and tea. what's it got to do with you?
Proprietor:
I happen to be the proprietor. Now, will you leave?"

submitted by Paul Cartwright

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From "Withnail and I"

"I:
No no you can't. It's impossible I swear it. I've looked into it.
Listen to me listen to me. There are things in there, there's a
tea-bag growing. You haven't slept in sixty hours you're in no state
to tackle it. Wait till the morning we'll go in together."

submitted by Paul Cartwright

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From "Withnail and I"

"I:
Do you want a cup of tea Withnail!?
Withnail:
No."

submitted by Paul Cartwright

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Feng Chih(1943-Current) (Chinese poet, now, California university professor)from"The heart poetry of tea"

"...Your bitter tear 1 drop, it is the sweetest 1 mouthful tea to me..."

submitted by GAKUSI(handle-name)

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Lian Ya Tang(1878-1936)(Chinese poet during Qing Dynasty-Zhong Hua Min Guo,from "Tea",in 1933-35

"...A cup of tea excels the real..."

submitted by GAKUSI(handle-name)

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Yuan Mei(1716-98)(Chinese poet during Qing Dynasty,qian long-year) from"Tea-Drinking",in 1783

"...at last, I entered the world of tea..."

submitted by GAKUSI(handle-name)

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unknown

"tea, tea, for you and me
me and you
lets have a brew
ooh ooh ooh.
ooh."

submitted by Cathy Arnquist

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Lu Tung

"I'm not interested in immortality but only in tea flavour."

submitted by Mirella M.P. Grillo (mental Trainer)

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From the film "Working Girl" with Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith

"What do you want? Tea, coffee, or ... me?"

submitted by Mirella M.P. Grillo (mental Trainer)

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Regina Helker answering to a journalist.

"I love tea. It's my elixir of eternal youth. Phisical youth and mental youth."

submitted by Mirella M.P. Grillo (mental Trainer)

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from "DONNA MODERNA: The art of reading the future with tea leaves" by Stephen Murrel and Rita Scontrino

"you need to drink a cup of tea before, then squeeze a small hole and drop enough tea leaves to cover a one Euro coin into your tea cup. Hold the cup in your left hand and turn it three times anticlokwise. This spreads the tea around the cup. The cup is read clockwise from the handle. The symbols near the handle show recent events or events about to happen. Symbols at the bottom of the cup represent your emotions. Around the rim of the cup is the happy zone indicanting social plans and possibilities."

All right, but the meaning?
" ..... the major symbols are the following:
Alligator: is a warning;
Arrow: pointing up means your luck is improving; pointing down means your luck is bad;
Bag: predicts a gift;
Bed: emotional contentment;
Bell: you will hear news about a problem;
Boat: money is arriving;
Bone: be careful;
Cake: a party;
Car: a new job or a powerful sexual symbol;
Circle: complete shows that a project will be finished; broken shows that a project is unfinished;
Compass: a change of direction in your life;
Ear: listen for unexpected opportunities;
Lamp: an unexpected celebration;
Palm tree: you are in a creative period;
Pear: good sign for love;
Pirate: forecasts adventures;
Question mark: warns you must be careful;
Triangle: (upside down) means bad luck."

submitted by Mirella M.P. Grillo (mental Trainer)

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(aff. to Hemingway during the spanish civil war)

"We all had a cup of tea and felt fine "over the river into the forests."

submitted by Teapoint

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Traditional South Yorkshire saying, which means "Are you making tea?"

"Meshin'?"

submitted by Tom Henthorn

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alicegothicland wrote in his livejournal

"There stood Alice, a great butcher knife in her hand. Blood on her apron, and her pallor blue dress, a smile on her mouth, and a question on her lips, "Wouldn't you like a spot of TEA?""

submitted by Playgr0undlove

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Colin Blythe (played by Donald Pleasance) - The Great Escape, 1963

"I'm afraid this tea's pathetic. I must have used these wretched leaves about 20 times. It's not that I mind so much. Tea without milk is so uncivilised"

submitted by Daniel Schlosberg

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The Police

"Tea in the Sahara, with you."

submitted by Richard Shuman

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Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"And I want a tea cozy. I don't know what a tea cozy is, but I want one!"

submitted by Richard Shuman

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Jean Luc Picard Captain of The Star Ship "Enterprise"

"Computer:
Tea,
Earl Gray,
Hot."

submitted by Garon Wynn

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lyrics from Cravin' Melon (Red Clay Harvest) "Sweet Tea"

"Don't try to offer me anything
What it comes right down to baby
Don't tempt me; I'm where I wanna be
Cause on the eighth day, God made sweet tea
Certain things in life I like to savor
Watchin' clouds and waitin' on the rain
If you ever question my behavior
Just a taste will make you feel the same now."

submitted by Peggy C.

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Sister Hazel

"I may seem like a strange cup of tea.
But if its allright with you, then its allright with me."

submitted by Paul Teal

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Tin Tin

"Toast and marmalade for tea.
sailing ships upon the tea."

submitted by Paul Teal

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Billy Connolly

"Never trust a man who, when left alone in a room with a tea cozy, doesn't try it on."

submitted by Olof Akesson

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Author unknown

"Bread and water can so easily be toast and tea."

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from Alexandra Stoddard

"The tea party is a spa for the soul. You leave your cares and work behind. Busy people forget their business. Your stress melts away, your senses awaken..."

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from R. L. Taylor "A Modern Don Juan"

"Snook: I'm not feeling very much like eating, Bill. I think this constant wet weather's got into my bones. I find it quite hard work to drag my feet along.
Smith: A nice mug of tea'll soon put you right, Alf. You mustn't go sick - this evening of all evenings! I tell you what we'll do, Alf. I've got a bottle of really good Scotch in my room. I managed to pick it up! It's been the only bright spot in our stay here. When we go in to supper, we'll pour a double into your mug of tea. Hot tea and whisky is a good mixture when you're feeling under the weather. It's helped to put many a man on his feet again."

Submitted by Mirella M. P. Grillo (mental trainer)

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Japanese Proverb

"If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty."

Submitted by Ben Mathes

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John Lawrence of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci fame

"I've learnt a lot form drinking Brooke Bond tea."

Submitted by Sarah Arguile

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Henry James. The Portrait of a Lady.

"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea."

Submitted by K. Smith

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This is taken from our song 'Brown Tea Lady'

"love lost-forlorn
warm tea is gone
help me find a way
help me to remain

(chorus)

part of you and part of tea
without tea,i am lost
candle-lit tears stream into the night
i am a tea pot waiting for night

brown tea
blackened pot
what posseses me now
seeds of my birth

(repeat chorus)

now-used tea bags
awaiting new birth
safe in the pot
and in the earth

you came to me
a soul in flight
you killed my flame
and stole my light"

Submitted by Sam Barham

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Above quote was from a pre WW11 advertisement that used to appear in Sydney trams. (I think it advertised either Green Label or Bushells Tea)

"To beat fatigue you'll all agree, there's nothing like a cup of tea!"

Submitted by Allen Kilby

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Pussy to Tea

"Pussy cat, pussy cat,
What are you at?
Where are your manners,
You bad little cat?"

"Miou," said the pussy;
"Please, may I stay
To afternoon tea, ma'am,
For once in a way?"

"Pussy cat, pussy cat,
What can I do?
There's no cup and saucer,
There's no tea for you."

"Miou," said the pussy;
"Miou, ma'am," said she.
"I don't need a tea-cup,
I never take tea;
Some milk in a saucer,
Is better for me."

Submitted by Author unknown

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from Douglas Adams "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"

"If he thought to himself, such a machine is a virtual impossibility, then it must logically be a finite improbability. So all I have to do in order to make one is to work out exactly how improbable it is, feed that into the finite improbability generator, give it a fresh cup of really hot tea...and turn it on!"

Submitted by Washu Ishida

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from the "Washington Post Newspaper"

"Author Kelly L. Moran was giving a copy of her book to rockstar STING and she said the book (which is about antique bone china teacups!) was really for his wife Trudie." Sting said "Hey, real men drink tea - I'm an Englishman and I love tea, too"

Submitted by Steve Wade

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from Fruit Tree's first album "Tea is good"

"Tea is good, tea is good,a cup of tea is good!"

Submitted by Keith Barham

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the character Jerry Ledbetter, "Good Neighbors"

"Top off the tea... it lubricates the grey matter."

Submitted by Julie Spilker

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Okakura Kakuzo The Book of Tea

"Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things."

Submitted by Heather Marek

---

Hugo Drax, villian of Moonraker (1979), to James Bond

"You have arrived at a propitious moment, coincident with your country's one indisputable contribution to Western civilisation - afternoon tea".

Submitted by Roderick H. Dashwood, Ph.D.

---

Senior Tea Buyer at Harrods, Knightsbridge in London - Mr H. Rahman nternational Tea Convention - Kochin September 5 2000

"Tea is such a magical product - perhaps even the eighth wonder of the world..."

---

Tori Amos - before playing the song "Sugar" From the Dew Drop Inn Tour - New York City concert, May 15, 1996. (A B-side song, Also found on the Hey Jupiter single with the following quote)

"So I had to get this song together in about, um, 2 hours. And, uh, this boy really pissed me off because I had a crush on him right, and he'd been making tea for me for 9 months... Hang on, I'm telling a story! And so, the whole thing is, he would sit there and ask me...now if you're making tea for a girl, right, for 9 months, don't you think guys, I mean help me out here, your noodle, I know it can hold a lot of information, right? But don't you think you can remember how many sugars a girl takes in her tea after nine months ...YO."

---

Roland Orzabal of Tears For Fears from the song "Laid So Low"

Chewed the bone down too low
Got fed on tea and sympathy"

---

"Tea for the Tillerman," song by Cat Stevens

Bring tea for the Tillerman
Steak for the sun
Wine for the women who made the rain come
Seagulls sing your hearts away
'Cause while the sinners sin, the children play

---

From The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

"The tea is ready, Dolores," said Ferguson. "See that your mistress has everything she can wish."

Submitted by Lori Bricker

---

The Beatles

Lovely Rita, Meter Maid
May I inquire discreetly?
When are you free to take some tea
With me?

---

Kurt Cobain 'Nirvana'

Sit and drink Pennyroyal tea
I'm anemic royalty.

---

La Rouchefoucauld wrote in 1784

"Throughout the whole of England the drinking of tea is general. You have it twice a day and though the expense is considerable, the humblest peasant has his tea, just like the rich man".

Submitted by Paul Teal

---

William Cobbett wrote in "Cottage Economy" in 1822

William Cobbett was infuriated by the fact that the average labourer spent something approaching a third of his earnings on tea, and denounced the beverage as a wicked waste of time and money. He wrote in Cottage Economy in 1822; ' The tea drinking has done a great deal in bringing this nation into the state of misery in which it now is, it must be evident to every one that the practice of tea drinking must render the frame feeble, and unfit to encounter hard labour or severe weather, while . . . it deducts from the means of replenishing the belly and covering the back. Hence succeeds a softness, an effeminacy, a seeking for the fireside, a lurking in the bed, and, in short, all the characteristics of idleness.

Submitted by Paul Teal

---

Wallace Stevens~"Tea at the Palaz of Hoon"

Not less because in purple I descended
The western day through what you called
The lonliest air, not less was I myself.

What was the ointment sprinkled on my beard?
What were the hymns that buzzed beside my ears?
What was the sea whose tide swept through me there?

Out of my mind the golden ointment rained,
And my ears made the blowing hymns they heard.
I was myself the compass of that sea:

I was the world in which I walked, and what I saw
Or heard or felt came not but from myself;
And there I found myself more truly and more strange.

Submitted by Joel E Martin

---

O'Donnell

If a man say unto thee that he thirsteth, give him a cup of tea.

Submitted by O'Donnell

---

Douglas Adams~ "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", �1979

"After a fairly shaky start to the day, Arthur's mind was beginning to reassemble itself from the shell-shocked fragments the previous day had left him with.
He had found a Nutri-Matic machine which had provided him with a plastic cup filled with a liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
The way it functioned was very interesting. When the Drink button was pressed it made an instant but highly detailed examination of the subject's taste buds, a spectroscopic analysis of the subject's metabolism and then sent tiny experimental signals down the neural pathways to the taste centers of the subject's brain to see what was likely to go down well. However, no one knew quite why it did this because it invariably delivered a cupful of liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. The Nutri-Matic was designed and manufactured by the Sirius Cybernetics Corporation whose complaints department now covers all the major landmasses of the first three planets in the Sirius Tau Star system."

Submitted by Richard Shuman

---

Terry Pratchett~ The Discworld novel "Carpe Jugulum"

"Mistress Weatherwax a bit poorly, is she?" said Hodgesaargh, coming in.
"I think you could certainly say that, yes."
"Oh dear. Want some tea?"
"What?"
"It's a nasty night. If we're stopping up I'll put the kettle on."
"Do you realize, man, that she might get up from there a bloodthirsty vampire?"
"Oh." The falconer looked down at the still figure and the smoking anvil. "Good idea to face her with a cup of tea inside you, then," he said.

Submitted by Tim Hinkle

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Daniel Johns~ from silverchair

"There is always a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea."

---

Lu T'ung

"I am in no way interested in immortality, but only in the taste of tea."

Submitted by Kenneth Lieblich, Vancouver, Canada

---

Joseph Addison, 1711.

"All well-regulated families set apart an hour every morning for tea and bread and butter."

Submitted by Paul Teal

---

Anonymous

Tea! What greater thing is there than a proper cup of tea?!

Submitted by Cheryl Pelkey

---

Famous English expression

A man without a mustasche is like a cup of tea without sugar.

Submitted by S. Baker

---

Eric Pringle~The Doctor Who story "The Awakening"

Turlough:"I quite miss that brown liquid they drink here."
Will Chandler:"Ale?"
Turlough:"No. Tea."
Will Chandler:"What be tea?"
The Doctor:"Oh, a noxious infusion of oriental leaves containing a high percentage of toxic acid."
Will Chandler:"Sounds an evil brew, don't it?"
The Doctor:"True. Personally, I rather like it."

Submitted by Tim Hinkle

---

"Tea gives me a headache!"

Pete Puma~The third time Bugs Bunny asks how he'd like his tea, with one "lump" or two.
Pete previously responded, "I have a sweet tooth. Better make it five."
The classic wooden mallet to the noggin would then be utilized....

Submitted by Richard Shuman

---

Marlene Dietrich ~ Marlene Dietrich's A B C. - Revised Ed. - New York : Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1984. - p. 154

"The British have an umbilical cord which has never been cut and through which tea flows constantly.
It is curious to watch them in times of sudden horror, tragedy or disaster.
The pulse stops apparently, and nothing can be done, and no move made, until "a nice cup of tea" is quickly made.
There is no question that it brings solace and does steady the mind.< What a pity all countries are not so tea-conscious.
World-peace conferences would run more smoothly if "a nice cup of tea", or indeed, a samovar were available at the proper time."

Submitted by Albrecht Ude-Berlin

---

Marlene Dietrich ~ Marlene Dietrich's A B C. - Revised Ed. - New York : Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1984. - p. 37

"It is a splendid drink and all that,
And a national drink of America,
And how about a nice cup of tea?"

Submitted by Albrecht Ude-Berlin

---

Six veteran authors have formed a small press called BelleBooks ~ A quote from Sweet Tea and Jesus Shoes ~ a collection of Southern short stories.

"In the south, you can't marry a man until you know how his mama makes sweet tea."

Submitted by Deborah Smith

---

Great-grandma Jewel~She lived to be 108 years old

"Tea is a cup of life"

Submitted by Lisa-Brittain

---

CS Lewis ~ "Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life"

"For if I could please myself I would always live as I lived there. I would choose always to breakfast at exactly eight and to be at my desk by nine, there to read or write till one. If a cup of good tea or coffee could be brought to me about eleven, so much the better. Tea should be taken in solitude �(London, Fontana, 1955), pp 115-16."

Submitted by Tom Round

---

The Dutchess of York on tea

"As long as it's hot and wet and goes down the right way, that's all that matters."

Submitted by Tina Bovee

---

This quote is from a small book entitled "Pathways; Restful Meditations" it is Zen Haiku translated by Gary Crounse

Strange how a teapot
Can represent at the same time
The comforts of solitude
And the pleasures of company.

Submitted by Nancy Grossenbacher Portland, OR

---

Beatrix Potter

Peter was not very well during the evening.
His mother put him to bed,
and made some chamomile tea:
'One table-spoonful to be taken at bed-time.'

---

Bernard-Paul Heroux - 1900s Basque philosopher

There is no trouble so great or grave
that cannot be much diminished
by a nice cup of tea.

Submitted by Crystal & Matthew

---

"Who is weting the tea"

a rural saying in ireland meaning who is making the tea

Submitted by darren hoare

---

"Cold Tea Blues" "Pale Sun, Cresent Moon" 1994 by the Cowboy Junkies.

If I pour your cup, that is friendship.
And if I add your milk, that's manners.
But If I stop there, claiming ignorance of taste,
That is tea.

But if I measure the sugar
to satisfy your expectant tongue
then that is love,
sitting untouched, and growing cold.

---

"Tie a thousand trees with ribbons" by Ann Rinaldi

" 'Tea' I said, my mouth parched. Thankfully, she had it, a pot still hot. 'I never tasted anything so good in my life'. 'You Americans do love your tea!' she said."

---

T.S. Elliot, Portrait of a Lady

I smile, of course,
And go on drinking tea,
'Yet with these April sunsets, that somehow recall
My buried life, and Paris in the Spring,
I feel immeasurably at peace, and find the world
To be wonderful and youthful, after all.'

---

Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin. (1755-1825) The physiology of taste. Chapter 136.

'Another novelty is the tea-party, an extraordinary meal in that, being offered to persons that have already dined well, it supposes neither appetite nor thirst, and has no object but distraction, no basis but delicate enjoyment.'

---

Dr. Who quote from "The Time Warrior" episode spoken by the Dr.'s companion Sarah

Galactic ticket inspectors? Oh, I could murder a cup of tea.

---

Lyrics from the song "BBC" by Ming Tea, from the movie "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery"

"Missus, will you
Make me tea, make love to me
Put on the telly to the BBC"

---

Attributed to both Eleanor Roosevelt and Nancy Reagan

Women are like tea bags. They don't know how strong they are until they get into hot water.

---

Lyrics from the song, "Tea Time For Timmy," written by Raffi

It's just you and me, sippin' on tea, with Josh and Timmy . . . and Gretchen too. There's nothing else to do; we'll drink tea, and happy we will be. Tell me all your thoughts on everything . . . I will try and understand. Tell me all your thoughts on everything . . . I will try and understand . . . the best I can. Hot tea in hand, talkin' 'bout everything. What could be more grand . . . than sippin' tea with these friends? Sittin' on a porch, with the stars our only torch, hot steam fills the air, tea and friends we share.

---

Thomas Mann [ Journal 1927 ]

E.M. Forster never gets any further than warming the teapot. He's a rare fine hand at that. Feel this teapot. Is it not beautifully warm? Yes, but there ain't going to be no tea.

---

From A.S. Byatt's novella "The Conjugial Angel," which appears in her book: Angels and Insects

[Mrs Jesse] poured tea. The oil-lamps cast a warm light on the teatray. The teapot was china, with little roses painted all over it, crimson and blush-pink and celestial blue, and the cups were garlanded with the same flowers. There were sugared biscuits, each with a flower made out of piped icing, creamy, violet, snow-white. Sophy Sheekhy watched the stream of topaz-coloured liquid fall from the spout, steaming and aromatic. This too was a miracle, that gold-skinned persons in China and bronze-skinned persons in India should gather leaves which should come across the seas safely in white-winged ships, encased in lead, encased in wood, surviving storms and whirlwinds, sailing on under hot sun and cold moon, and come here, and be poured from bone china, made from fine clay, moulded by clever fingers, in the Pottery Towns, baked in kilns, glazed with slippery shiny clay, baked again, painted with rosebuds by artist-hands holding fine, fine brushes, delicately turning the potter's wheel and implanting, with a kiss of sable-hairs, floating buds on an azure ground, or a dead white ground, and that sugar should be fetched where black men and women slaved and died terribly to make these delicate flowers that melted on the tongue like the scrolls in the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah, that flour should be milled, and milk shaken into butter, and both worked together into these momentary delights, baked in Mrs. Jesse's oven and piled elegantly onto a plate to be offered to Captain Jesse with his wool-white head and smiling eyes, to Mrs. Papagay, flushed and agitated, to her sick self, and the black bird and the dribbling Pug, in front of the hot coals of fire, in the benign lamplight. Any of them might so easily have not been there to drink the tea, or eat the sweetmeats. Storms and ice-floes might have taken Captain Jesse, grief or childbearing might have destroyed his wife, Mrs. Papagay might have lapsed into penury, and she herself have died as an overworked servant, but here they were and their eyes were bright and their tongues tasted goodness.

---

Samuel Johnson (1709-84), English author, lexicographer.

Tea's proper use is to amuse the idle, and relax the studious, and dilute the full meals of those who cannot use exercise, and will not use abstinence.
"Review of A Journal of Eight Days' Journey," in Literary Magazine, vol. 2, no. 13 (London, 1757; repr. in Works, vol. 6, 1825).
Nonetheless, Johnson confessed in the article to being "a hardened and shameless tea-drinker, who has, for twenty years, diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and, with tea, welcomes the morning." James Boswell vouched for this passion in his Life of Samuel Johnson: "I suppose no person ever enjoyed with more relish the infusion of that fragrant leaf than Johnson" (entry for 1756).

---

Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953), British author. On Nothing, "On Tea" (1908).

Is there no Latin word for Tea? Upon my soul, if I had known that I would have let the vulgar stuff alone.

---

J. B. Priestley (1894-1984), British author. Quoted in: Observer (London, 15 May 1949).

Our trouble is that we drink too much tea. I see in this the slow revenge of the Orient, which has diverted the Yellow River down our throats.

---

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-94), U.S. writer, physician. Over the Teacups, ch. 1 (1891).

The morning cup of coffee has an exhiliration about it which the cheering influence of the afternoon or evening cup of tea cannot be expected to reproduce.

---

Henry David Thoreau (1817-62), U.S. philosopher, author, naturalist. Walden, "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For" (1854).

To a philosopher all news, as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit it and read it are old women over their tea.

---

Katharine Whitehorn (b. 1926), British journalist. Roundabout, "The Office Party" (1962).

An office party is not, as is sometimes supposed, the Managing Director's chance to kiss the tea-girl.
It is the tea-girl's chance to kiss the Managing Director (however bizarre an ambition this may seem to anyone who has seen the Managing Director face on).
Bringing down the mighty from their seats is an agreeable and necessary pastime, but no one supposes that the mighty, having struggled so hard to get seated, will enjoy the dethronement.

---

Cynthia Payne (b. 1934), British housewife, brothel-keeper. Remark, 8 Nov. 1987. Quoted in: Sunday Correspondent (London, 24 Dec. 1989), after Paine was acquitted of running a brothel in Streatham, South London, in the "sex-for- luncheon-vouchers" case.

Sex
I know it does make people happy, but to me it is just like having a cup of tea.

---

Lu Yu (d. 804), Chinese sage, hermit. Quoted in: Jason Goodwin, The Gunpowder Gardens, Introduction (1990), from the Cha Ching.

The best quality tea must have creases like the leathern boot of Tartar horsemen, curl like the dewlap of a mighty bullock, unfold like a mist rising out of a ravine, gleam like a lake touched by a zephyr, and be wet and soft like a fine earth newly swept by rain.

---

George Mikes (b. 1912), Hungarian-born British humorist. How To Be An Alien, ch. 1, sct. 5 (1946).

The trouble with tea is that originally it was quite a good drink. So a group of the most eminent British scientists put their heads together, and made complicated biological experiments to find a way of spoiling it. To the eternal glory of British science their labour bore fruit.

---

Alexander Zinoviev (b. 1922), Soviet philosopher. Sunday Times (London, 3 May 1981), on his forced exile from the Soviet Union.

They were right. The Soviet r�gime is not the embodiment of evil as you think in the West. They have laws and I broke them. I hate tea and they love tea. Who is wrong?

---

George Orwell (1903-50), British author. "The English People" (1944; repr. in The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, vol. 3, ed. by Sonia Orwell & Ian Angus, 1968), on the English attitude toward food.

England and the English
As a rule they will refuse even to sample a foreign dish, they regard such things as garlic and olive oil with disgust, life is unliveable to them unless they have tea and puddings.

---

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61), English poet. Aurora Leigh, bk. 1 (1857).

What's this, Aurora Leigh,
You write so of the poets and not laugh?
Those virtuous liars, dreamers after dark,
Exaggerators of the sun and moon,
And soothsayers in a tea-cup? I write so
Of the only speakers of essential truth,
Opposed to relative, comparative,
And temporal truths; . . .
The only teachers who instruct mankind,
From just a shadow on a charnel-wall.

---

Ezra Pound (1885-1972), U.S. poet, critic. Letter, 1909, to his mother. Quoted in: Humphrey Carpenter, A Serious Character, pt. 2, ch. 3 (1988).

It ought to be illegal for an artist to marry. . . . If the artist must marry let him find someone more interested in art, or his art, or the artist part of him, than in him. After which let them take tea together three times a week.

---

W. Somerset Maugham (1874-1965), British author. Edward Driffield, in Cakes and Ale, ch. 11 (1930).

Poor Henry, he's spending eternity wandering round and round a stately park and the fence is just too high for him to peep over and they're having tea just too far away for him to hear what the countess is saying.

---

Florence King (b. 1936), U.S. author. Reflections in a Jaundiced Eye, "Nice Guyism" (1989).

The confidence and security of a people can be measured by their attitude toward laxatives. At the high noon of the British sun, soldiers in far-flung outposts of the Empire doctored themselves with "a spoonful o' gunpowder in a cuppa 'ot tea." Purveyors and users of harsh laxatives were not afraid of being thought mean and unfriendly just because their laxatives were. But in America, the need to be nice is so consuming that nobody would dare take a laxative that makes you run up the stairs two at a time, pushing others aside and yelling, "Get out of the way!"

---

from "Under Milkwood" by Dylan Thomas

And in Willy Nilly the Postman's dark and sizzling damp tea-coated misty pygmy kitchen where the spittingcat kettles throb and hop on the range, Mrs Willy Nilly steams open Mr Mog Edwards' letter to Miss Myfanwy Price and reads it aloud to Willy Nilly by the squint of the Spring sun through the one sealed window running with tears, while the drugged, bedraggled hens at the back door whimper and snivel for the lickerish bog-black tea.

---

from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", by Douglas Adams.

"No," he said, "look, it's very, very simple ... all I want ... is a cup of tea. You are going to make one for me. Keep quiet and listen."
And he sat. He told the Nutri-Matic about India, he told it about China, he told it about Ceylon. He told it about broad leaves drying in the sun. He told it about silver teapots. He told it about summer afternoons on the lawn. He told it about putting in the milk before the tea so it wouldn't get scalded. He even told it (briefly) about the history of the East India Company.
"So that's it, is it?" said the Nutri-Matic when he had finished.
"Yes," said Arthur, "that is what I want."
"You want the taste of dried leaves in boiled water?"
"Er, yes. With milk."
"Squirted out of a cow?"
"Well, in a manner of speaking I suppose ..."

---

Driver 8

"I'm gonna treasure you, I'm gonna ask you to, take some time for tea."

---

T.S. Eliot, from "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

"Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea."

---

Emilie Barnes, "A Cozy Christmas Tea"

"Perhaps that is the true gift of a teatime celebration: It fills our cups with joy and warmth and friendship. May the echo of the teacups' message be heard not only at Christmas, not only on special occasions, but anytime friends come together."

---

said of tea by Lu Yu, in his 8th-century Ch'a Ching, as translated by F. R. Carpenter.

"its goodness is a decision for the mouth to make."

---

Anonymous

Tea pot is on, the cups are waiting,
Favorite chairs anticipating,
No matter what I have to do,
My friend there's always time for you.

---

Jill Dupleix, "Old Food", Allen & Unwin, Australia, 1998

"Nobody can teach you how to make the perfect cup of tea. It just happens over time. Wearing cashmere helps, of course".

---

Walter Hooper

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me," said C.S. Lewis. whilst at that moment I was pouring his tea into a very large cornish Ware cup and he was reading Bleak House."

---

Irving Ceaser, "Tea for Two" - 1925

"Tea for two, and two for tea,
Me for you, and you for me"

---

Ralph Waldo Emerson - writing about John Quincy Adams

He is an old rou� who must have sulphuric acid in his tea.

---

Afternoon Teas by Patricia Winchester

Read this my dears, and you will see
how to make a nice cup of tea
take teapot to kettle, not t'other way round
and when you hear that whistling sound
pour a little in the pot
just make it nice and hot.
Pour that out and put in the tea,
loose or in bags, your choice, you see.
One bag for each two cups will do
with one extra bag to make a fine brew.
Steep 3-5 minutes then pour a cup.
Then sit right down and drink it up!

---

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

"The privileges of the side-table included the small prerogatives of sitting next to the toast, and taking two cups of tea to other people's one."

---

From the 1986 movie 'Mona Lisa'

Hotel Waiter: What would you like?
George: Tea.
Hotel Waiter: Earl Grey or Lapsang Souchong?
George: No, tea.

---

Attributed to both Eleanor Roosevelt and Nancy Reagan

"Women are like teabags. We don't know our true strength until we are in hot water!"

---

Sir Arthur Pinero

"Where there's tea there's hope"

---

Arthur Gray

"The spirit of the tea beverage is one of peace, comfort and refinement"

---

Okakura

"Tea with us became more than an idealization of the form of drinking; it is a religion of the art of life."

---

Honore De Balzac

"Great love affairs start with Champagne and end with tisane."

---

Noel Coward

Wouldn't it be dreadfull to live in a country where they didn't have tea?"

---

Aleksandr Pushkin

"Ecstasy is a glass full of tea and a piece of sugar in the mouth."

---

George Gissie

"The mere chink of cups and saucers turns the mind to happy repose."

---

John Baldrey, "Everything Stops for Tea"

"Every nation in creation has its favourite drink,
France is famous for her wine, it's in Germany I think.
Turkey loves her coffee, and they serve it blacker than ink
Russians love their vodka, England loves her tea. . . "

---

John Baldrey, "Everything Stops for Tea"

"I know now why Franz Schubert
Never finished his unfinished symphony
He would have written more
but the clock struck four
And everything stopped for tea."

---

Edmund Waller. 1605-1687. Of Tea.

And keeps the palace of the soul.

---

An exchange between Lady Astor and Winston Churchill that took place in the Houses of Parliament one day.

Lady Astor (infuriated): Mister Churchill, if I were your wife, I'd put poison in your tea.
Churchill: Madam, were I your husband, I would surely drink it.

---

(Pooh's Little Instruction Book)

"A Proper Tea is much nicer than a Very Nearly Tea, which is one you forget about afterwards."

---

A Decent Cup of Tea by Malachi McCormick

"We can survive functional illiteracy or shattered windows of vulnerability, but not the demise of The Decent Cup of Tea."

---

Muhammad my Friend from Boys for Pele by Tori Amos

Muhammad my friend
it's time to tell the world
we both know it was a girl back in Bethlehem
and on that fateful day when she was crucified
she wore Shiseido Red and we drank tea by her side...

---

(Proust, Du cote de chez Swann 1:61)

"And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday morning at Cambray . . . my aunt Leonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane."

---

T'ien Yiheng

"Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world."

---

Alexandra Stoddard (Stoddard, Tea Celebrations 14)

"The 'art of tea' is a spiritual force for us to share"

---

The Guess Who ~ No Sugar Tonite

No sugar tonight in my coffee
No sugar tonight in my tea
No sugar to stand beside me
No sugar to run with me

---

Delboy talking about Rodders, in 'Only Fools And Horses' (a zany British sitcom)

"He's about as much use as a chocolate tea pot."

---

Woody Allen: The Kugelmass Episode

"You want a tea?"
"No, I want romance. I want music. I want love and beauty."
"But not tea, eh? Amazing..."

---

Jethro Tull: One Brown Mouse

Smile your little smile --- take some tea with me awhile.
Brush away that black cloud from your shoulder.
Twitch your whiskers. Feel that you're really real.
Another tea-time --- another day older.

---

Karl Fast's Grandmother

"Unless the water boiling be,
vain the attempt to make the tea"

---

Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927): Three Men in a Boat

It is very strange, this domination of our intellect by our digestive organs. We cannot work, we cannot think, unless our stomach wills so. It dictates to us our emotions, our passions. After eggs and bacon it says, "Work!" After beefsteak and porter, it says, "Sleep!" After a cup of tea (two spoonfuls for each cup, and don't let it stand for more than three minutes), it says to the brain, "Now rise, and show your strength. Be eloquent, and deep, and tender; see, with a clear eye, into Nature, and into life: spread your white wings of quivering thought, and soar, a god-like spirit, over the whirling world beneath you, up through long lanes of flaming stars to the gates of eternity!"

---

A London underground train advertisement, circa 1952 (as recalled by David R Perry).

"With auntie Sue
it's any old brew,
And dear aunt Jane
pours out pure rain,
But mother sees
we've Co-Op Teas"

---

Chaim Potok: The Chosen

Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.

---

A billboard outside a tea-shop in nothern Copenhagen (as discovered by Karen Nielsen).

"Kissing is like drinking tea with a tea strainer, you can never get enough."

---

From the 8th-century classic, 'The Classic of Tea' by Lu Yu (trans. F. Carpenter)

"Its liquor is like the sweetest dew from Heaven"

---

A Timelord in a Dr. Who episode

"Just presume I'm a paradox in an anomaly, and get on with your tea."

---

Sting, from "Englishman in New York"

"I don't drink coffee, I take tea my dear"

---

Henry James (1843-1916) "Daisy Miller"

"It has never occurred to Mr. Winterbourne to offer me any tea," she said, with her little tormenting manner."
"I have offered you advice," Winterbourne rejoined.
"I prefer weak tea!"

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From Dylan Thomas' "A Child's Christmas in Wales"

It snowed last year too:
I made a snowman and my brother knocked it down
and I knocked my brother down and then we had tea.

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The Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) in "Survival" (Doctor Who) by Rona Munro

"There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream.
People made of smoke and cities made of song.
Somewhere else the tea's getting cold.
Come on Ace, we've got work to do."

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Mick Jagger (c.1945 - ) "Live with Me

I got nasty habits; I take tea at three.

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Anonymous, "Tea Drinking; a Fragment" (c.1752)

The leading Fair the Word harmonious gives;
Betty around attends with bending Knee.
Each white-arm Fair, the painted cup receives;
Pours the rich Cream, or stirs the sweetened Tea.

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Christopher Anstey (1724-1805) The New Bath Guide, letter 13, "A Public Benefactor"

You may go to Carlisle's, and to Almack's too;
And I'll give you my head if you find such a host,
For coffee, tea, chocolate, butter, and toast;
How he welcomes at once all the world and his wife,
And how civil to folks he ne'er saw in his life.

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Hilaire Belloc (1870-1953) Cautionary Tales, Henry King

"Oh, my friends, be warned by me,
That breakfast, dinner, lunch and tea
Are all human frame requires...."
With that the wretched child expires.

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Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)

Indeed, Madame, your ladyship is very sparing of your tea;
I protest the last I took was no more than water bewitched.

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Edward Young (1683-1765) Love of Fame, Satire 1

For her own breakfast she'll project a scheme,
Nor take her tea without a stratagem.

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Lewis Carroll, (1832-1898) "The Hunting of the Snark," Stanza

It frequently breakfasts at five-o'clock tea,
And dines on the following day.

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William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) The Knickleburys on the Rhine

Why do they always put mud into coffee on board steamers?
Why does the tea generally taste of boiled boots?

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George Gordon Byron, Lord Byron (1788-1824) "Beppo"

The would -be wits and can't-be gentlemen,
I leave them to their daily "tea is ready,"
Smug coterie and literary lady.

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William Carleton ( 1845-1912) Farm Ballads (1873), "Bestey and I Are Out"

We arg'ed the thing at breakfast, we arg'ed the thing at tea,
And the more we arg'ed the question, the more we didn't agree.

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Dylan Thomas (1914-1953) Under Milkwood

Here's your arsenic dear.
And your weed-killer biscuit.
I've throttled your parakeet.
I've spat in the vases.
I've put cheese in the mouseholes. Here's your... nice tea, dear

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Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) (1832-1898) Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 6

"Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice very earnestly.
"I've had nothin yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more."

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Lewis Caroll Ibid., Chapter 7

Twinkle, twinkle little bat
How I wonder what you're at!
Up above the world you fly,
Like a tea-tray in the sky.

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Gilbert Keith Chesterton, "Song Against Grocers"

But who hath seen the Grocer
Treat housemaids to his tea
Or crack a bottle of fish sauce
Or stand a man to cheese?

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Colley Cibber (1671-1757) The Lady's Last Stake, Act 1, Scene 1

Tea! thou soft, sober, sage and venerable liquid;-
thou female tongue-running, smile-smoothing,
heart-opening, wink-tippling cordial, to whose
glorious insipidity I owe the happiest moment of my life, let me fall prostrate.

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William Cobbett (1762-1835) Advice to Yound Men, Letter 1 Free yourself from the slavery of tea and coffee and other slopkettles.

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William Congreve (1670-1729) The Double Dealer, Epistle Dedicatory, Act 1, Scene 1

They are at the end of the gallery;
Retired to their tea and scandal, according to their ancient custom.

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William Cowper (1731-1800) "The Task"

Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
And, while the bubbling and loud hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column and the cups
That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful ev'ning in.

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Thomas DeQuincy (1875-1959) ~ Confessions of an English Opium Eater

"...you may compute the period when happiness is in season, which in my judgement, enters the room with the tea-tray.
For tea, though ridiculed by those who are naturally coarse in their nervous sensibilities, or are become so from wine-drinking, and are not susceptible of influence from so refined a stimulant, will always be the favourite drink of the intellectual; and for my part, I would have joined Dr. Johnson in a bellum internecinum against Jonas Hanway, or any other impious person who should have presumed to disparage it."

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Charles Dickens (1812-1870) Barnaby Rudge

"Polly put the kettle on, we'll all have tea."

---

Sir Kenelm Digby (1603-1665 The hot water is to remain upon it (the tea) no longer than whiles you can say the The Miisere Psalm very leisurely.

---

Isaac D'Israeli (1766-1848)

The progress of this famous plant has been something like the progess of truth; suspected at first, though very palatable to those who had courage to taste it; resisted as it encroached; abused as its popularity seemed to spread; and establishing its triumph at last, in cheering the whole land from the palace to the cottage, only by the slow and resistless efforts of time and its own virtues.

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Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) Speech before House of Commons, 11 April 1845

He traces the steam engine alway back to the tea kettle.

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Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) Peter Bell the Third, Part III, Stanza 12

Teas,
Where small talk dies in agonies.

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Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) Letters and Social Aims

There is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea.

---

Henry Fielding (1707-1754) "Love in Several Masques"

Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.

---

Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911)

Now for the tea of our host
Now for the rollicking bun,
Now for the muffin and toast,
Now for the gay Sally Lunn!

---

Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) "To an Insect"

Do Katydids drink tea?

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Henry James (1843-1916) Portrait of a Lady

There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.

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Pierre Daniel Huet (c. 1709) "Tea Elegy"

O Tea! O leaves torn from the sacred bough!
O stalk, gift born of the great gods!
What joyful region bored thee? In what part of the sky
Is the fostering earth swollen with your health, bringing increase.

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Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) Untitled

So hear it then, my Rennie dear,
Nor hear it with a frown;
You cannot make the tea so fast
As I can gulp it down.
I therefore pray thee, Rennie dear,
That thou wilt give to me
With cream and sugar softened well,
Another dish of tea.

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Lu Tung (Chinese poet during T'ang Dynasty) "Tea-Drinking"

The first cup moistens my lips and throat;
The second cup breaks my loneliness;
The third cup searches my barren entrail but to find therein some thousand volumes of odd ideographs;
The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration-all the wrongs of life pass out through my pores;
At the fifth cup I am purified;
The sixth cup calls me to the realms of the immortals.
The seventh cup-ah, but I could take no more! I only feel the breath of the cool wind that raises in my sleeves.
Where is Elysium? Let me ride on this sweet breeze and waft away thither.

---

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) Life's Handicap, "The Courting of Dinah Shadd"

Tho-tay is not my divarsion.

---

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) "Natural Theology"

We had a kettle; we let it leak:
Our not repairing made it worse.
We haven't had any tea for a week...
The bottom is out of the Universe.

---

Louise MacNeice (1907-1963) "Les Sylphides"

So they were married-to be the more together-
And found they were never again so much together,
Divided by the morning tea,
By the evening paper,
By children and tradesmen's bills.

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Thomas Babington Macauley (1800-1859) Life of Johnson

The old philosopher is still among us in the brown coat with the metal buttons and the shirt which ought to be at the wash, blinking, puffing, rolling his head, drumming with his fingers, tearing his meat like a tiger, and swallowing his tea in oceans.

---

John Masefield (1878-1967) "Captain Stratton's"

Oh some are fond of Spanish wine, and some are fond of French.
And some swallow tay and stuff fit only for a wench.

---

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) "The Song of Right and Wrong"

Tea, although an Oriental
Is a gentleman at least;
Cocoa is a cad and coward,
Cocoa is a vulgar beast.

---

Gladstone (1865) Victorian British Prime Minister

If you are cold, tea will warm you;
If you are too heated, it will cool you;
If you are depressed, it will cheer you;
If you are excited, it will calm you.

---

Sidney Smith (1711-1845) The "English Billy Graham" of his day in a letter.

Thank God for tea! What would the world do without tea! How did it exist? I am glad I was not born before tea.

---

Alexander Pope (1711) The Rape of the Lock

Here thou, great Anne, whom three realms obey,
Dost sometimes counsel take and sometimes tea.

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Charles Lamb (1775-1834) John Company clerk, Witches and Other Night Fear

I like a tea smuggler. He is the only honest thief. He robs nothing but the revenue-an abstraction I never cared greatly about.
I could go out with him in his mackerel boat, or about his less ostensible business, with some satisfaction.

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English tea smuggler's ballad (1700)

Five and twenty ponies
Trotting through the dark;
Brandy for the Parson,
Baccy for the Clark,
Laces for a lady, letters for a spy,
And watch the wall, my darling,
While the gentlemen go by.

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Robert Trotman (1765) Gravestone epitaph of English tea smuggler

A little tea, one leaf I did not steal.
For guiltless bloodsped I to God appeal.
Put tea in one scale, human blood in t'other,
And think what 'tis to slay a harmless brother.

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Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) The Ballad of the Boston Tea Party

No! Ne'er was mingled such a draught
In palace, hall or arbor,
As freemen brewed and tyrants quaffed
That night in Boston Harbor.

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T.S. Eliot ~ The Naming of Cats

The naming of teas is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your everyday games-
Some might think you as mad as a hatter
Should you tell them each goes by several names.
For starters each tea in this world must belong
To the families Black or Green or Oolong;
Then look more closely as these family trees-
Some include Indians along with Chinese.

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Ernest Bramah (1868-1942), The wallet of Kai Lung.

It is a mark of insincerity of purpose to spend one's time in looking for the sacred Emperor in the low-class tea shops.

---

Rupert Brooke (1887-1915), "The Olde Vicarage, Grantchester"

Stands the Church clock at ten to three?
And is there honey for the tea?

---

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) "Nursery Chairs, The Fourth Chair"

"Whenever I sit in a high chair
For breakfast or dinner or tea,
I try to pretend that it's my chair,
And that I am a baby of three."

---

A. A. Milne (1882-1956) "Disobedience"

James James
Morrison's Mother
Said to herself, said she:
"I can get right down to the end of the town and be back in time for tea."

---

Harold Monro (1879-1932) "Milk for the Cat"

When the tea is brought at five o'clock
And all the neat curtains are drawn with care,
The little black cat with bright green eyes
Is suddenly purring there.

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Barry Pain (1864-1928) "The Poets at Tea, Wordsworth"

Come little cottage girl, you seem
To want my cup of tea;
And will you take a little cream?
Now tell the truth to me!

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Barry Pain (1864-1928) "The Poets at Tea, Cowper".

The cozy fire is bright and gay,
The merry kettle boils away
And hums a cheerful song.
I sing the saucer and the cup;
Pray, Mary, fill the teapot up,
And do not make it strong.

---

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) An Essay on Man

Matrons, who toss the cup and see
The grounds of fate in grounds of tea.

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Punch, 1902, vol cxxiii (originally attributed to Abraham Lincoln, c. 1863)

Look here, Steward, If this is coffee, I want tea; but if this is tea, then I wish for coffee.

---

Jan Struther (1901-1953) "Three Stockings"

The blessed drink of early morning tea.

---

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) Letter to Maria Gisborne

Though we eat little flesh and drink no wine,
Yet let's be merry; we'll have tea and toast;
Custards for supper, and an endless host
Of syllabubs and jellies and mince-pies,
And other such ladylike luxuries.

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Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) Letter, 1912

My experience...convinced me that tea was better than brandy, and during the last six months in Africa I took no brandy, even when sick taking tea instead.

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Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1788-1824) "The Talking Oak".

In tea-cup times of hood and hoop Or while the patch was worn.

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