Saying: The man who drinks whiskey before he is forty is a fool . . .

[Hugo]

Journal of Social Science : Containing the Proceedings of the American Association., December 1900, no. 38, page 127:

[Begin]
The best judges of the proper use or abuse of alcohol are medical men, who carefully note causes and effect. I would rather have personally observed facts than whole tomes of theories. In youth alcohol is of no benefit: it is harmful. In the aged it is a blessing, if used properly. Some one has said, " A man is a fool who drinks before he is fifty, and a blank fool who does not do so moderately thereafter." Whiskey should be taken by the aged when overcome with fatigue and before taking food, as a tired man has a tired stomach; and a small portion of the stimulant will lift up the vitality and make good digestion possible.
[End]


Google snippet: http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dTgoAAAAYAAJ&q=fool+%22drinks+before%22&dq=fool+%22drinks+before%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=keMmUtKCJsSHtQbx0oCwDw&redir_esc=y

Hathitrust full view:
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.$b693360;view=1up;seq=183

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Without the booze from Edward Young in 1726:

        • Be wise with speed;
A fool at forty is a fool indeed.
                • Satire II, l. 282.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Young#Love_of_Fame_.281725-1728.29

Google Books full view: http://books.google.com/books?id=VC5cAAAAQAAJ&pg=PP15&dq=%22a+fool+at+forty+is+a+fool%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=--cmUrCqOMjKswbOs4F4&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA

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Hugo

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