If what you eat does not make you drunk, it is because you were not hungry enough.
Genuine
Yes. In Fruits of the Earth (1897), Livre II, Les Nourritures terrestres (1897).
Found word for word by program in the French original.
The English is our own translation, not yet reviewed: there is no public-domain translation of this text in our sources.
Checked against André Gide, Les Nourritures terrestres (first published Paris: Société du Mercure de France, 1897; read in the Nouvelle Revue Française / Gallimard edition of 1921, University of Toronto copy), Livre II, p. 36 of the 1921 NRF edition (the lines end the page before running head 37), in the text of a page scan, not the image.
- Work
- Fruits of the Earth (Les Nourritures terrestres), 1897
- Where
- Livre II, Les Nourritures terrestres (1897)
- Found at
- Paragraph 185 of the French text
- Translation
- Our own, not yet reviewed (no public-domain translation in our sources)
- Source
- André Gide, Les Nourritures terrestres (first published Paris: Société du Mercure de France, 1897; read in the Nouvelle Revue Française / Gallimard edition of 1921, University of Toronto copy), Livre II, p. 36 of the 1921 NRF edition (the lines end the page before running head 37)
- Checked
- In the text of a page scan, not the image
Researched by AI; checked by program against the full text on 31 October 2026. Editorial review: pending. How we check
On the page
L’aigle, de lait ? — ou non point de genièvre les grives ?
— L’aigle se grise de son vol. Le rossignol s’enivre des nuits d’été. La plaine tremble de chaleur. Nathanaël, que toute émotion sache te devenir une ivresse. Si ce que tu manges ne te grise pas, c’est que tu n’avais pas assez faim.
Chaque action parfaite s’accompagne de volupté. À cela tu connais que tu devais la faire. — Je n’aime point ceux qui se font un mérite d’avoir péniblement œuvré. […]
Je sais ce que mon corps peut désirer de volupté chaque jour et ce que ma tête en supporte. Et puis commencera mon sommeil. Terre et ciel ne me valent plus rien au delà.
Nathanaël, let every emotion know how to become an intoxication for you. If what you eat does not make you drunk, it is because you were not hungry enough.
The scene
A passage of short, urgent exhortations in Livre II, addressed to Nathanaël, the pupil the book speaks to throughout. They follow a series of images of heat and of the nightingale drunk on summer nights, and are followed by a remark that every perfect action is accompanied by pleasure.
What it means
Hunger, desire and appetite make sense of experience: a feast that does not intoxicate shows that the eater lacked the appetite for it, not that the feast was poor.
Often misread
Often shortened to a line about appetite or passion for life in general, and given without Nathanaël, the pupil addressed, or the heat-and-nightingale images before it. It is a teacher’s exhortation to a young man, not a description of how the world works.
Topics
Related quotes
- Let no one be slow to seek wisdom when he is young nor weary in the search thereof when he is grown old. For no age is too early or too late for the health of the soul. Epicurus
- For this is your duty, to act well the part that is given to you; but to select the part, belongs to another. Epictetus
- Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. (not found) Albert Einstein
- Dig within. Within is the wellspring of good; and it will ever bubble up, if you will ever dig. (paraphrase) Marcus Aurelius
- Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Sources
- archive.org/details/lesnourritureste00gideuoft (Les Nourritures terrestres, NRF, 1921)
Cite it
André Gide, Fruits of the Earth (1897), Livre II, Les Nourritures terrestres (1897), our own translation. Checked at Quotogeny, https://quotogeny.com/q/if-what-you-eat-does-not-intoxicate-you/ (31 October 2026).
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Checked by people
People who checked this entry against its source, under their own names. Their checks do not change the verdict: an editor reviews every entry.
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