The Physiology of Taste Quotes

“The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of the human race than the discovery of a star.”
― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste: Or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy

“To invite people to dine with us is to make ourselves responsible for their well-being for as long as they are under our roofs.”
― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste: Or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy

“A man who was fond of wine was offered some grapes at dessert after dinner. "Much obliged," said he, pushing the plate aside; "I am not accustomed to take my wine in pills.”
― Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste: Or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy

“Animals fill themselves; man eats. The man of mind alone knows how to eat.”
― Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste

“1: There are at least six of them:     Sight, which embraces space itself, and tells us by means of light of the existence of the objects which surround us, and of their colors. Hearing, which absorbs through the air the vibrations caused by agreeably resonant or merely noisy bodies. Smell, by means of which we savor all odorous things. Taste, by which we appreciate whatever is palatable or only edible. Touch, by which we are made aware of the surfaces and the textures of objects. Finally physical desire, which draws the two sexes together so that they may procreate.”
― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste: or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy

“the way in which meals are enjoyed is very important to the happiness of life.6”
― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste: or Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy

“Agreeable guests should be sought for among those who have this appearance. They receive all that is offered them, eat slowly, and taste advisedly. They do not seek to leave places too quickly where they have been kindly received. They are always in for all the evening, for they know all games, and all that is neccessary for a gastronomical soiree.   Those, on the contrary, to whom nature has refused a desire for the gratifications of taste, have a long nose and face. Whatever be their statures, the face seems out of order. Their hair is dark and flat, and they have no embonpoint. They invented pantaloons.”
― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste

“Az ízlés birodalmának is megvannak a maga vakjai és süketei.”
― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, Physiologie du goût

“Mindamellett, jól megfontolva a dolgot, arra a meggyőződésre jutunk, hogy összes érzékeink közül az ízlésnek köszönhetjük a legtöbb élvezetünket:

1. Mert az evés élvezete az egyetlen, amelyet nem követ fáradtság, föltéve, hogy mérsékletesen élünk vele.
2. Mert minden időszakban, mindegyik életkorban, minden életföltétel közepett részünk van benne.
3. Mert szükségképen mindennapos élvezet, s huszonnégy óra alatt, egészségünknek minden kára nélkül, megismételhető kétszer, háromszor is.
4. Mert együtt járhat más élvezeteinkkel, másfelől vigasztalásunkra van, ha más örömünk nincsen.
5. Mert benyomásai elég tartósak s meglehetős részben akaratunktól függenek.
6. Végre, mert evés közben valami különös, meghatározhatatlan jólétet érzünk, ami bizonyára annak ösztönszerű érzéséből ered, hogy ekképen helyrehozzuk az életfolyamat okozta veszteséget s meghosszabbítjuk létünket.”
― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, Physiologie du goût

“God has subjected man to six great necessities: birth, action, eating, sleep, reproduction and death.”
― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste: Or, Meditations on Transcendental Gastronomy

“that the table established a kind of alliance between the parties, and made guests more apt to receive certain impressions and submit to certain influences. This was the origin of political gastronomy. Entertainments have become governmental measures, and the fate of nations is decided on in a banquet. This is neither a paradox nor a novelty but a simple observation”
― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste

“La soif factice, qui est spéciale à l'espèce humaine, provient de cet instinct inné qui nous porte à chercher dans les boissons une force que la nature n'y a pas mise, et qui n'y survient que par la fermentation. Elle constitue une jouissance artificielle plutôt qu'un besoin naturel : cette soif est véritablement inextinguible, parce que les boissons qu'on prend pour l'apaiser ont l'effet immanquable de la faire renaître ; cette soif, qui finit par devenir habituelle, constitue les ivrognes de tous les pays ; et il arrive presque toujours que l'importation ne cesse que quand la liqueur manque, ou qu'elle a vaincu le buveur et l'a mis hors de combat.”
― Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology Of Taste: Or, Transcendental Gastronomy

“  These senses, our favorites, are far from being perfect, and I will not pause to prove it. I will only observe, that that ethereal sense--sight, and touch, which is at the other extremity of the scale, have from time acquired a very remarkable additional power.   By means of spectacles the eye, so to say, escapes from the decay of age, which troubles almost all the other organs.   The telescope has discovered stars hitherto unknown and inaccessible to all our means of mensuration; it has penetrated distances so great, that luminous and necessarily immense bodies present themselves to us only like nebulous and almost imperceptible spots.”
― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste

“La destinée des nations dépend de la manière dont elles se nourrissent.”
― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, Physiologie du goût

“All languages had their birth, their apogee and decline.”
― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste