Everybody should believe in something; I believe I’ll have another drink.
About This Quote
The earliest located appearance is in Peter De Vries’s 1967 novel "The Vale of Laughter", spoken by the character Joe Sandwich during a conversation that has drifted into existentialism while he is drinking with Gloria. The line was later reprinted in a 1967 Time magazine review, helping it circulate more widely. In the early 1970s it began to be credited to W. C. Fields without solid supporting evidence, despite Fields having died in 1946.
Interpretation
The setup sounds like a serious claim about faith or philosophy, but the punchline abruptly reframes “belief” as a preference for another alcoholic drink. The humor comes from the sudden shift from lofty ideals to a mundane (and self-indulgent) choice.
Extended Quotation
“Well, a man’s got to believe something, and I believe I’ll have another drink,”
Variations
A man’s got to believe in something, and I believe I’ll have another drink.
Everybody has to believe in something, and I believe I’ll have another drink.
Everybody should believe in something; I believe I’ll have another drink.
Misattributions
- W. C. Fields
- Chris Browne
Source
Time magazine, Nov. 24, 1967, review of "The Vale of Laughter" (reprinting the line attributed in-context to the character Joe Sandwich).
