July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961 American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style (which he termed the 'iceberg theory') had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction.
Got tight last night on absinthe and did knife tricks. Great success shooting the knife into the piano. The woodworms are so bad and eat hell out of all furniture that you can always claim the woodworms did it.
― Ernest Hemingway, 1931 letter
16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900 Irish poet and playwright, one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. Author of "The Picture of Dorian Gray".
After the first glass of absinthe you see things as you wish they were. After the second you see them as they are not. Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world...
― Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde
30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890 Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history.
Still Life with Absinthe
― Vincent van Gogh, 1887
2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941 Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer. Regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.
The Absinthe Drinker
― Pablo Picasso, 1901
12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947 English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, mountaineer, and founder of the religion of Thelema.
It is as if the first diviner of absinthe had been indeed a magician intent upon a combination of sacred drugs which should cleanse, fortify and perfume the human soul.
― Aliester Crowley, 'Absinthe The Green Goddess'
1 May 1855 – 21 April 1924 English novelist on topics of reincarnation, astral projection and mysticism. After her first novel, 'A Romance of Two Worlds' in 1886, she became a bestselling fiction writer in England.
Let me be mad, then, by all means! Mad with the madness of Absinthe, the wildest, most luxurious madness in the world! Vive la folie! Vive l'amour! Vive l'animalisme! Vive le Diable!
― Marie Corelli
2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941 Irish novelist, short story writer, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of the 20th century.
Green eyes, I see you. Fang, I feel.
― James Joyce, 'Ulysses', 1920
July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005 American journalist and author who founded the gonzo journalism movement. He remains best known for his book, 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas' (1971).
Let us toast to animal pleasures, to escapism, to rain on the roof and instant coffee, to unemployment insurance and library cards, to absinthe and good-hearted landlords, to music and warm bodies and contraceptives... and to the "good life", whatever it is and wherever it happens to be.
― Hunter S. Thompson
20 October 1854 – 10 November 1891 French poet known for his transgressive and surreal themes and for his influence on modern literature and arts, prefiguring surrealism. Rimbaud completely stopped writing literature at age 20 after assembling his last major work, 'Illuminations'.
When the poet's pain is soothed by a liquid jewel held in the sacred chalice, upon which rests the pierced spoon, the crystal sweetness, icy streams trickle down. The darkest forest melts into an open meadow. Waves of green seduce. Sanity surrendered, the soul spirals toward the murky depths, wherin lies the beautiful madness - absinthe.
― Arthur Rimbaud