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

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Great! Thank you very much for taking the time to search for the
expression, Hugo.

The entry on the QI website has now been updated, and I added the
following statement to the acknowledgement section: Special thanks to
correspondent Hugo who located the 1900 citation.

http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/08/31/drink-fifty/

Thanks for helpfully pointing to the saying "A fool at forty is a fool
indeed". I did come across the expression during my original search.
It is listed in The Oxford Dictionary of Proverbs and the Yale Book of
Quotations. The Oxford reference lists a precursor in 1557. What to
include in a post is a subjective decision, and I decided to omit the
proverb for now.

Also, thanks to Victor for his response.

Garson

On Wed, Sep 4, 2013 at 4:03 AM, Hugo <hugovk at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Hugo <hugovk at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Saying: The man who drinks whiskey before he is forty is a
>               fool . . .
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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
>
> ---
>
> 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
>
> ---
>
> Hugo
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
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