Quote: a man's got to believe something, and I believe I'll have another drink (Peter De Vries 1967)

[Garson O'Toole]

A version of the saying in the subject line is credited to W. C.
Fields in "The Forbes Book of Business Quotations" (2007). On the "Net
of a Million Lies" [as Vernor Vinge once underestimated] the
attribution to W.C. Fields is popular. Sometimes the credit goes to
"Unknown."

In "1,001 Logical Laws" (1979) compiled by John Peers the maxim is
forthrightly stolen in the following entry:
Steele's Plagiarism of Somebody's Philosophy:
Everyone should believe in something--I believe I'll have another drink.

This influential philosophy of life was apparently first stated by the
satirist Peter De Vries.

Cite: 1967, The Vale of Laughter by Peter De Vries, GB Page 317,
Little, Brown, Boston. (Not verified on paper yet; But the phrase
appears in a review of the novel dated November 24, 1967 in Time
magazine)

"Well, a man's got to believe something, and I believe I'll have
another drink," ...

Garson

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