I like to “collect” aphorisms. Call me kooky.
One that has been rattling around in my head lately is the following:
In wine there is wisdom.
In beer there is freedom.
In water there is bacteria.
Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to find a reliable source. Google searches show most people are attributing it to Ben Franklin, which can’t possibly be correct.* (Of course, he didn’t say “beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy” either.)
So, where is it really from? The first line could be a bastardization of the Latin proverb “in vino veritas” (“in wine, truth”). But what about the rest?
While the quote stands on its own, I’d really like to know who first said it. Or will it be added to the long list of wisdom from that great philosopher, Anon.?
Anybody have a good source?
* While microorganisms were observed as early as the late 1600s, the word “bacterium” wasn’t introduced until 1828, and Pasteur didn’t present his germ theory of disease until the 1860s. Franklin died in 1788.
The second line reminds me of something Fritz Maytag once wrote (in the foreword to Jack Erickson’s “California Brewin’”): “It takes a lot of freedom to make good beer.”
Doesn’t bring you any closer to the original author of your aphorism, of course, but I thought it was interesting nonetheless.
I saw some blogs that attribute it to David Auerbach and some attribute it to Benjamin Franklin. Still searching….
Ah, but which David Auerbach? A quick search shows a Hollywood cameraman, an actor, a professor of philosophy, three lawyers, two doctors, and a performance artist. And that’s just on the first page.
http://www.foodreference.com/html/qbacteria.html has the quote has ‘”In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria.” – David Auerbach, 2002′, but no further information as to where that appeared.
Heh, so much for that.
A quick search of Usenet archives shows a person named Wayne Lutz using it in his signature in 1996. He lists it thus:
“In beer there is strength,
In wine is wisdom,
In water is bacteria.” – Olde German saying.
(Or something an old German said; I’m not
sure which.)
Of course, every collection of German proverbs I’ve looked at doesn’t have it.
Another version I found:
“Wine has body, Beer has strength, Water has bacteria”
I saw this attributed to Ben Franklin on an email signature which is how I wound up here looking for an answer. The reason being is I am not sure (just started looking mind you) if ole Ben would have known about bacteria, when were they discovered?
Glad I wound up here too, ’cause I’m a brewer.
Bacteria where first discovered as I learned by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, dutch. In 1676 he found them in a pepperdrip.
True, true. But the connection between those microorganisms and disease, not to mention the word “bacterium”, didn’t come about until after Franklin’s death.
Wasn’t original in 2002, I first saw it on the wall of a pub in 1994, attributed: Old German Proverb, but couldn’t have been older than the word bacteria, unless originally was “illness” or some such
Why couldn’t BF have said it? Bacteria was discovered in the mid 1670′s by Antony van Leeuwenhoek so it’s certainly possible that Ben said it.
Because they weren’t called “bacteria” nor implicated in disease until after ol’ Ben departed this Earth.