International Coffee Day falls on 1 October, and this page holds the quotes to run with it. Every line here arrives with a name attached, and where the words come from a book, a poem or a piece of music, that work sits beside the author: Alcott’s Little Women, Eliot’s โThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrockโ, Bach’s Coffee Cantata. The bank is sorted into four groups โ lines from novels and poems, lines from historical and Enlightenment figures, funny lines from comedians and columnists, and modern quotes from founders, actors and ad campaigns โ so you can pick by the tone your graphic needs. A later section lists the famous coffee lines that no published source supports, so you never put a name under words that person never wrote.
13 coffee quotes ready to drop onto a 1 October graphic
- ๐ โI’d rather take coffee than compliments just now.โ โ Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
- โIf it wasn’t for coffee, I’d have no discernible personality at all.โ โ David Letterman (โฏยฐโกยฐ)โฏ
- โJust coffee. Black โ like my soul.โ โ Cassandra Clare, City of Bones ๐ค
- โLife’s too short for bad coffee.โ โ Gord Downie ~( หโฝห)ใฃโ
- โCoffee is a lot more than just a drink; it’s something happening.โ โ Gertrude Stein
- โA morning coffee is my favorite way of starting the day, settling the nerves so that they don’t later fray.โ โ Marcia Carrington ( ห ยณห)โฅ
What this coffee quote bank gives you for 1 October
- Four coffee quotes carry a work you can print beside the name: Alcott’s Little Women, Eliot’s โThe Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrockโ, Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye, and Bach’s Coffee Cantata, written in 1732.
- Short lines sit on the artwork; long ones sit under it. Clare’s โBlack โ like my soulโ and Hieber’s โCoffee first. Schemes later.โ hold their size on a mug or a square tile, while Beecher’s twenty blue devils and Blixen’s coffee-pickers need the caption field.
- The historical group carries a fact you can put in the caption alongside the words: Voltaire drank 40 to 50 cups a day, Napoleon chose suffering over senselessness, Lincoln could not tell the tea from the coffee.
- Comedians and columnists supply the caption-length lines โ Seinfeld, Lewis Black, Steven Wright, Jean Kerr โ and each one needs the comedian’s name, because the joke is theirs.
- Folgers, Dunkin’ and Maxwell House lines are ad copy, not quotations. Label them that way if you use them.
- Four near-identical โcoffee is a flavor thatโฆโ sentences circulate under Coco Chanel, Oscar Wilde, Pablo Neruda and George Bernard Shaw, and no published work is ever cited for any of them. Emerson’s โGod’s gift to mankindโ and the Kant line about reheated friendship fail the same test.
Literary coffee quotes with the book they come from
Every line below names the novel or poem it was written in
- โThat’s something that annoys the hell out of me – I mean if somebody says the coffee’s all ready and it isn’tโ โ J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye ๐ค
- โWho shall I shoot? You choose. Now, listen very carefully: where’s your coffee? You’ve got coffee, haven’t you? C’mon, everyone’s got coffee! Spill the beans!โ โ Terry Pratchett, Monstrous Regiment ๐ซ
- โComplacencies of the peignoir, and late / Coffee and oranges in a sunny chair.โ โ Wallace Stevens, โSunday Morningโ ๐
- โIf I know a song of Africa โ I thought โ of the giraffe, and the African new moon lying on her back, of the plows in the fields, and the sweaty faces of the coffee-pickers, does Africa know a song of me?โ โ Karen Blixen (Isak Dinesen), โOut of Africaโ ๐
- ๐ โThe fresh smell of coffee soon wafted through the apartment, the smell that separates night from day.โ โ Haruki Murakami, Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage
- โYou need some coffee, don’t you?โ / โYes, I’ve only had a gallon.โ โ John Grisham, The Confession (~โพโฟโพ)~
- โBlack as night, sweet as sin.โ โ Neil Gaiman, Anansi Boys ๐
- โI like my coffee with cream and my literature with optimism.โ โ Abigail Reynolds, Pemberley by the Sea ๐โ
Honorรฉ de Balzac claimed that when you drink coffee, ideas march in like the army, and he finished more than 90 novels and novellas on that footing; elsewhere he put it flatly โ โWere it not for coffee one could not write, which is to say one could not live.โ Ernest Hemingway described the other half of the habit, the ritual rather than the dose: he hung his old waterproof on the coat rack, put his felt hat on the rack above the bench, ordered a cafรฉ au lait, then took a notebook and pencil from his coat pocket and started to write. Margaret Atwood cut past the romance of it altogether โ โI don’t even glance at the herbal teas, I go straight for the real, vile coffee. Jitter in a cup. It cheers me up to know I’ll soon be so tense.โ Quote any of the three and you are quoting a working method, which is worth a sentence in the caption.
Historical coffee quotes from Voltaire to Lincoln
Nine historical coffee quotes, with who the speaker was
- โCoffee is the common man’s gold, and like gold, it brings to every person the feeling of luxury and nobility.โ โ Sheik Abd-al-Kadir, one of the earliest Arab writers to praise the drink โจ
- ๐ง โOn taking this drink one feels the sentiment of well being and hope; melancholy is dissipated; one feels capable of doing, because of a condition of strength. Coffee is truly a brain stimulant.โ โ Voltaire, the Enlightenment philosopher who reportedly drank 40 to 50 cups a day
- โI would rather suffer with coffee than be senseless.โ โ Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of the French โ๏ธ
- โIf this is coffee, please bring me some tea; but if this is tea, please bring me some coffee.โ โ Abraham Lincoln, US president ๐ฉ
- โA cup of coffee, real coffee, home-browned, home-ground, home-made, that comes to you dark as a hazel eye, but changes to a golden bronze as you temper it with creamโฆ such a cup of coffee is a match for twenty blue devils and will exorcise them all.โ โ Henry Ward Beecher, 19th-century American preacher ๐ฟ
- โCoffee, the favorite drink of the civilized world, gives us the warmth of love without its pains.โ โ Jules Michelet, French historian โค๏ธโ๐ฅ
- โCoffee is a balm for the heart and spirit.โ โ Giuseppe Verdi, Italian opera composer ๐ถ
- โThe powers of a man’s mind are directly proportioned to the quantity of coffee he drinks.โ โ Sir James Mackintosh, Scottish philosopher and politician โ๏ธ
- โCoffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as love.โ โ Turkish saying, carried down as a proverb with no single author to credit (ยฌโฟยฌ)
Three picks for 1 October, labelled by where they go
โCoffee first. Schemes later.โ โ Leanna Renee Hieber, Darker Still โ๐ Four words, so the type stays large on a mug wrap or a square tile and the credit still fits underneath.
โThe combined smell of coffee and used books felt like the intersection of all things good and necessary.โ โ Katrina Leno, Horrid ๐ Name the novel in the first line of the caption and the attribution carries itself.
โI put instant coffee in a microwave oven and almost went back in time.โ โ Steven Wright (โ_โ) Too long for the artwork, so run it under the photo with Wright’s name on the same line.
Funny coffee quotes with a name attached
Eleven funny coffee quotes from comedians, columnists and novelists
- โWe want to do a lot of stuff; we’re not in great shape. We didn’t get a good night’s sleep. We’re a little depressed. Coffee solves all these problems in one delightful little cup.โ โ Jerry Seinfeld ๐ด
- โI like coffee because it gives me the illusion that I might be awake.โ โ Lewis Black ๐
- โDo Lipton employees take coffee breaks?โ โ Steven Wright ๐ต
- ๐ฅ โIt is inhumane, in my opinion, to force people who have a genuine medical need for coffee to wait in line behind people who apparently view it as some kind of recreational activity.โ โ Dave Barry
- โDo you know how helpless you feel if you have a full cup of coffee in your hand and you start to sneeze?โ โ Jean Kerr ๐คง
- โI’ll quit coffee. It won’t be easy drinking my Bailey’s straight, but I’ll get used to it. It’ll still be the best part of waking up.โ โ Megan Mullally ๐ฅ
- โI believe humans get a lot done, not because we’re smart, but because we have thumbs so we can make coffee.โ โ Flash Rosenberg ๐
- โNo matter what historians claimed, BC really stood for โBefore Coffee.’โ โ Cherise Sinclair ๐ฐ๏ธ
- โA mathematician is a device for turning coffee into theorems.โ โ Alfred Rรฉnyi โ
- โI think I’ve reduced the amount of blood in my caffeine system to an acceptable level.โ โ Alastair Reynolds, Revelation Space (โ_โ)
- โI don’t really like coffee, she said, but I don’t really like it when my head hits my desk when I fall asleep either.โ โ Brian Andreas (โฏ๏ธตโฐ,)
Emoji sets for each coffee quote category
Modern coffee quotes and brand slogans
Recent coffee lines, plus the ad copy people mistake for quotes
- โI can’t imagine a day without coffee. I can’t imagine!โ โ Howard Schultz, who built Starbucks โ
- โTo me, the smell of fresh-made coffee is one of the greatest inventions.โ โ Hugh Jackman, actor ๐
- โI wake up some mornings and sit and have my coffee and look out at my beautiful garden, and I go, โRemember how good this is. Because you can lose it.’โ โ Jim Carrey, actor ๐ฟ
- โWhat goes best with a cup of coffee? Another cup.โ โ Henry Rollins, musician and spoken-word performer ๐
- โI like my coffee like I like myself: strong, sweet, and too hot for you.โ โ Jac Vanek (๏ฝกโขฬแด-)โง
- โThe best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup!โ โ Folgers Coffee slogan, written by an ad agency rather than said by a person ๐บ
- โAmerica Runs on Dunkin’โ โ Dunkin’ slogan, ad copy ๐ฉ
- โGood to the last drop.โ โ Maxwell House Coffee slogan, ad copy ๐ง
Glyphs and kaomoji for a coffee quote card
โโจ๏ธโ โโ โโ โโยทโฆๆฆ_( หฯห )( หโฝห)ใฃโโญ( ๏ฝฅใ
๏ฝฅ)ู โ(ใฃ- โธ - ฯ)c[_]โ โ โChecking who actually said a coffee quote
Coffee quote lists copy from each other, and a sentence picks up a famous name somewhere along the chain. You can watch it happen inside a single list: four lines built on the same frame โ โCoffee is a flavor thatโฆโ โ sit under Coco Chanel, Oscar Wilde, Pablo Neruda and George Bernard Shaw, and not one of them carries a book, letter or interview. Ralph Waldo Emerson gets โCoffee is God’s gift to mankindโ, Kant gets a line about friendship and reheated coffee, and no edition of either writer holds the words. Before you put a name under a quote on a graphic, ask three things: does the credit name a work you can open, does the wording sound like the century the speaker lived in, and does the same sentence turn up elsewhere under a different name? If the first answer is no, run the line without a name or swap in one that cites its book.
Six coffee quotes to drop, and what to print instead
- โ ๏ธ โCoffee is a flavor that can be enjoyed at any time of the day.โ โ Coco Chanel. No letter, interview or memoir carries it, and it is one of four identical-sounding โcoffee is a flavorโ lines in the same list. Print instead: โHis smile was like a Dylan album and a cup of coffee on a sunny afternoonโ โ Jen Archer Wood, Point Pleasant.
- โCoffee is a flavor that makes you feel alive.โ โ Oscar Wilde ๐ซ Wilde’s published work holds nothing like it, and the phrasing is a century off. Print instead: โOne more cup of coffee for the road / One more cup of coffee ‘fore I go / To the valley below.โ โ Bob Dylan, โOne More Cup of Coffeeโ.
- โCoffee is a drink that helps you wake up, think, and create.โ โ Pablo Neruda โ ๏ธ No poem or essay is ever named, and the line reads like translation filler. Print instead: โEvery day, in the sun, / at breakfast time I sit on my balcony / with my feet up, and drink gallons of coffee.โ โ Elizabeth Bishop, North and South.
- (ยฌ_ยฌ) โCoffee is a flavor that makes you happy.โ โ George Bernard Shaw. Shaw wrote at length and never this flatly; no play, preface or letter is cited. Print instead: โWho drinks a decaf cappuccino? Be honest with yourself and get a cup of warm milk.โ โ Colin Walsh, Kala.
- โCoffee is God’s gift to mankind.โ โ Ralph Waldo Emerson โ ๏ธ It appears in no essay, journal or address of his. Print instead: โCoffee should be black as hell, strong as death, and sweet as loveโ โ a Turkish saying, credited to the culture rather than to one person.
- โFriendship is like coffee, once cold it never returns to its original flavor, even if reheated.โ โ Kant ๐คจ Kant is given no first name and no title, which is usually the tell. Print instead: โGood communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.โ โ Anne Morrow Lindbergh, though note this one also floats around credited to Anne Spencer, so name your source when you use it.
Pairing a coffee quote with its graphic
Core Idea: Louisa May Alcott’s โI’d rather take coffee than compliments just nowโ set five ways
- Square Instagram graphic
- I’d rather take coffee than compliments just now.
Louisa May Alcott ยท Little Women โ๐
Quote large across the middle, name and novel on two small lines underneath so the credit reads at thumbnail size.
- Cafe chalkboard
- I’D RATHER TAKE COFFEE
THAN COMPLIMENTS JUST NOW
โ ALCOTT โ๏ธSurname only. Anyone who wants the novel will ask the barista, and the board stays readable from the pavement.
- Pinterest pin
- โI’d rather take coffee than compliments just now.โ
โ Louisa May Alcott, Little WomenLiterary coffee quotes for International Coffee Day ๐ Full attribution on the pin, keywords in the description rather than crowded onto the image.
- Mug print
- I’d rather take coffee
than compliments
just now ( ห ยณห)โLeave the name off the front and wrap โโ L.M. Alcottโ small on the opposite side, where the handle sits.
- 1 October caption
- Louisa May Alcott wrote this in Little Women, and it has outlasted every โdon’t talk to me before coffeeโ mug since โ๐ค Happy International Coffee Day โ โI’d rather take coffee than compliments just now.โ What’s in your cup?
Four coffee quote cards and how the attribution sits on them
Post twice on 1 October. In the morning, put a literary line over a photo of your first cup โ Salinger, Stevens or Murakami โ and open the caption with the author and the book the line comes from. In the afternoon, post a comedian’s line as plain text on a flat colour, name the comedian, and close the caption with the question below. Answer every comment by naming who wrote the quote the follower has posted; if the line has no source, say so and offer one that names its book. Keep both posts in the same typeface and colour so the pair reads as one set in the grid.
๐ Jargon Buster
- Kaomoji
- A little face or expression built from regular keyboard characters, like ( หยณห)โฅ or ยฏ\_(ใ)_/ยฏ, rather than a picture emoji โ common on quote cards because they scale without going blurry.
- Coffee Cantata
- A short comic piece Bach wrote in 1732 about a father trying to talk his daughter out of drinking so much coffee. It's a real, dated work, which is why it can be cited the way a book is.
- Attribution
- Naming who actually said or wrote a line, backed by a book, speech or interview you could point to โ as opposed to a name that just got attached to a quote somewhere along a chain of reposts.
