# W. C. Fields quote?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w-c-fields-quote/460647>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 20, 2008, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w-c-fields-quote/460647 "2008-08-20T06:13:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w-c-fields-quote/460647/1 "2008-08-20T06:13:16Z")

</div>

When I was younger, a friend had a poster of a quote that was attributed to Fields. The premise of the humor was something like ‘Everyone needs a little eye opener in the morning, [reason] for mid morning drink, of course at lunch… finally a nightcap but this damn sip, sip, sip all day long has got to stop’.

Can anyone point me to the correct text? Thanks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w-c-fields-quote/460647/2 "2008-08-20T07:31:02Z")

</div>

I haven’t found anything that could be called an indisputable cite, and nothing that notes the original appearance of the quote nor anything that, with any authority attributes it to Fields (one guy attributes it to Fields in his sig on a messageboard, though that isn’t a strong cite).

[Google results for “sip sip sip” “morning eye opener”](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=%22sip+sip+sip%22+%22morning+eye+opener%22&btnG=Search)

One of the longer versions of the quote reads thus:

> [@](#):
>
> Nobody minds a man having a morning eye-opener and it’s OK to have a bracer about 10 A.M. and a couple of drinks before lunch. A few beers on a hot afternoon keeps a man healthy, or at least happy. And, of course everyone drinks at a cocktail hour. A man can’t be criticized for having wine with his dinner, a liqueur afterwards, and a highball or two during the evening. But this business of sip, sip, sip, all day long has got to stop!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w-c-fields-quote/460647/3 "2008-08-20T12:05:37Z")

</div>

I can find it in newspaper articles written by the gossip columnist Earl Wilson as early as 1961. In those articles he says it’s posted on Jackie Gleason’s dressing room wall, but without any mention or attribution to Fields.

If I get time tonight, I’ll look in some other places.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Don\_t\_fight\_the\_hypothetical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_fight_the_hypothetical)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2008, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/w-c-fields-quote/460647/4 "2008-08-21T06:41:20Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=bienville]  
Nobody minds a man having a morning eye-opener and it’s OK to have a bracer about 10 A.M. and a couple of drinks before lunch. A few beers on a hot afternoon keeps a man healthy, or at least happy. And, of course everyone drinks at a cocktail hour. A man can’t be criticized for having wine with his dinner, a liqueur afterwards, and a highball or two during the evening. But this business of sip, sip, sip, all day long has got to stop!  
[/QUOTE]

That’s it! Thanks.