"There's nothing quite like tobacco: it's the passion of decent folk, and whoever lives without tobacco doesn't deserve to live."
-- Moliere, Don Juan, 1665
"There are men here and there to whom the whole of life is like an after-dinner hour with a cigar; easy, pleasant, empty, perhaps enlivened by some fable of strife to be forgotten before the end is told - even if there happens to be any end to it."
-- Joseph Conrad, Lord Jim, 1900
"Darling, you must choose between me and your cigars."
-- Rudyard Kipling, The Betrothed, 1899
"Cognac and cigars... it's like finding the perfect woman. When you've got her, why go chasing after another?"
-- Michael Nouri, Actor
"A fine cigar is just like a woman. If you don't light it up just right and suck on it with a certain frequency, it will go out on you." -- Anonymous
"A fine cigar is like a fine woman. They come in all shapes and sizes. Treat them tenderly and lovingly. Caress their skin, admire their beauty, fondle them with reverence. Bring them slowly to your lips, enjoy their flavor, their aroma. Contemplate their essence, their dependability, and forgive them their weaknesses - if there be any. Revel in the rituals, their simplicity and their enduring meanings. Do these things, my son, and the blessings of life shall always be upon you." -- Prince Sined Yar Maharg
"Given the choice between a woman and a cigar, I will always choose the cigar."
-- Groucho Marx
"They had no good cigars there, my lord; and I left the place in disgust."
-- Alfred Lord Tennyson, returning from Venice"
"The cigar is a great resource. It is necessary to have traveled for a long time on a ship to understand that at least the cigar affords you the pleasure of smoking. It raises your spirits. Are you troubled by something? The cigar dissolves it. Are you subject to aches and pains (or bad temper)? The cigar will change your disposition. Are you harassed by unpleasant thoughts? Smoking a cigar puts one in a frame of mind to dispense with these. Do you ever feel a little faint from hunger? A cigar satisfies the yearning. If you are obsessed by sad thoughts, a cigar will take your mind off of them. Finally, don't you sometimes have some unpleasant remembrance or consoling thought? A cigar will reinforce this. Sometimes they die out, and happy are those who do not need to relight too quickly. I hardly need to say anything more about the cigar, to which I dedicate this little eulogy for past services rendered."
-- The Duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, 1794
"Cigarettes are for chain-smoking, cigars must be smoked one at a time, peaceably, with all the leisure in the world. Cigarettes are of the instant, cigars are for eternity."
-- G. Cabera Infante, Cuban novelist
"A handmade cigar is a rebellion against frenzy and insanity; it means supporting contemplation over rash impulse, and represents a civilized revolution."
-- Steve Worthington, San Francisco Financier
"I pledged myself to smoke but one cigar a day. I kept the cigar waiting until bedtime, then I had a luxurious time with it. But desire persecuted me every day and all day long. I found myself hunting for larger cigars...within the month my cigar had grown to such proportions I could have used it as a crutch."
-- Mark Twain, discussing his attempt to cut back on his cigar consumption
"If I had taken my doctor's advice and quit smoking when he advised me to, I wouldn't have lived to go to his funeral."
-- George Burns
"The only way to break a bad habit was to replace it with a better habit."
-- Jack Nicholson, explaining why he switched from cigarettes to cigars
"To fully appreciate fine cigars, it's important to recognize the various types of cigars. There are two basic categories of cigar. The lit and unlit."
-- P. Martin Shoemaker, Jeff MacNelly, From the comic strip "Shoe"
"A cigar ought not to be smoked solely with the mouth, but with the hand, the eyes, and with the spirit."
-- Zino Davidoff
"What this country needs is a good 5-cent cigar."
-- Thomas Marshall, Vice President as said in the Senate in 1919
"A good cigar is like tasting a good wine: you smell it, you taste it, you look at it, you feel it - you can even hear it. It satisfies all the senses."
-- Anonymous
"If I cannot smoke in heaven, then I shall not go."
-- Mark Twain
"I am done - pay the bills and get me a cigar."
-- William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair

 

(Back)