From wine what sudden friendship springs!

John Gay (1685–1732), a leading Augustan poet and satirist best known for The Beggar’s Opera, often wrote in a witty, moralizing vein about everyday social behavior. The line “From wine what sudden friendship springs!” is commonly attributed to Gay’s poem “Wine,” where he treats drinking as a social catalyst that can rapidly dissolve reserve and manufacture intimacy among companions. In the early 18th-century British literary world—coffeehouses, clubs, and convivial gatherings—wine and sociability were frequent subjects for humorous reflection, and Gay’s couplet-like phrasing fits the period’s taste for epigrammatic observations about manners and vice.

The line compresses a familiar social truth into a sparkling aphorism: alcohol can create the feeling of instant camaraderie. “Sudden friendship” suggests not only warmth and ease but also the speed—and potential shallowness—of bonds formed under intoxication. Gay’s tone is typically double-edged: the remark can be read as celebratory of conviviality, yet it also hints at skepticism about friendships that “spring” from wine rather than from character or shared experience. In an Augustan moral landscape that prized moderation and clear judgment, the quote can function as both a toast to fellowship and a caution about chemically assisted sincerity.