Tea Quotes

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Tea has been part of life for thousands of years. These tea quotes will help you make it part of yours.

After originating in China, tea traveled the world and steeped into cultures in almost every continent. Tea leaves have crossed land and sea with explorers, armies, poets, and diplomats.

Whether you’re sipping the hot and comforting liquid at a formal afternoon service, or just relaxing with a book, get ready to celebrate tea’s important place in many cultures around the world.

So begin brewing, start steeping, and enjoy these tea quotes with your next cuppa.

Top 10 Tea Quotes

Tea will take you there.

Ags Sachs

A simple cup of tea is far from a simple matter.

Mary Lou Heiss
Arthur Pinero quote "Where there’s tea there’s hope"
“Where there’s tea there’s hope.” – Arthur Wing Pinero

Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage.

Catherine Douzel

Tea is the magic key to the vault where my brain is kept.

Frances Hardinge

Tea is the elixir of life.

Lao Tzu

A cup of tea would restore my normality.

Douglas Adams
Ken Cohen tea quote "A cup of tea is a cup of peace"
“A cup of tea is a cup of peace.” – Ken Cohen

If at first, you don’t succeed, have a cup of tea.

Peter Scott

Tea – the cups that cheer but not inebriate.

William Cowper

Quotes about Tea

Tea to the English is really a picnic indoors.

Alice Walker

Tea, though ridiculed by those who are naturally coarse in their nervous sensibilities will always be the favorite beverage of the intellectual.

Thomas de Quincey

Tea is to the body as music is to the soul.

Earlene Grey

Tea is balm for the soul, don’t you agree?

P. L. Travers
"Tea is liquid wisdom"
“Tea is liquid wisdom.” – Unknown

When you are drinking tea, it is basically a private conversation between the tea and your individual soul.

Lu Ann Pannunzio

But indeed I would rather have nothing but tea.

Jane Austen

If you are cold, tea will warm you; if you are too heated, it will cool you; if you are depressed, it will cheer you; if you are excited, it will calm you.

William Ewart Gladstone

Coffee isn’t my cup of tea.

Samuel Goldwyn

There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be diminished by a nice cup of tea.

Bernard-Paul Heroux

Drinking a daily cup of tea will surely starve the apothecary.

Chinese Proverb

Surely a pretty woman never looks prettier than when making tea.

Mary Elizabeth Braddon
CS Lewis tea quote "Tea should be taken in solitude"
“Tea should be taken in solitude.” – C. S. Lewis

All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong but like it a little stronger with each year that passes.

George Orwell

Making tea is a ritual that stops the world from falling in on you.

Jonathan Stroud

You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.

C. S. Lewis

Tea cannot be learned from a book, only from the heart.

Sochi

Some people will tell you there is a great deal of poetry and fine sentiment in a chest of tea.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rainy days should be spent at home with a cup of tea and a good book.

Bill Watterson

Tea is a part of daily life. It is as simple as eating when hungry and drinking when thirsty.

Yamamoto Soshun
"Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea"
“Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea.” – Henry Fielding

Great love affairs start with champagne and end with tisane.

Honoré de Balzac

If you are cold, tea will warm you; if you are too heated, it will cool you; If you are depressed, it will cheer you; If you are excited, it will calm you.

William Ewart Gladstone

Tea does our fancy aid, Repress those vapours which the head invade, And keeps that palace of the soul serene.

Edmund Waller

Would you like an adventure now, or would you like to have your tea first?

James M. Barrie

The Chinese say it’s better to be deprived of food for three days than tea for one.

Khaled Hosseini

No matter where you are in the world, you are at home when tea is served.

Earlene Grey

The spirit of the tea beverage is one of peace, comfort and refinement.

Arthur Gray
"No matter what is happening in your life you always offer tea"
“No matter what is happening in your life, you always offer tea.” – Clemantine Wamariya

It has been well said that tea is suggestive of a thousand wants, from which spring the decencies and luxuries of civilization.

Agnes Repplier

There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life.

Lin Yutang

There is no problem on earth that can’t be ameliorated by a hot bath and a cup of tea.

Jasper Fforde

Water is the mother of tea, a teapot its father, and fire the teacher.

Chinese Proverb

Tea is best when enjoyed in pleasant surroundings, whether indoors or out, where the atmosphere is tranquil, the setting harmonious.

John Blofeld

If you ask Zen people they will say tea is not something that you pour with unawareness and drink like any other drink. It is not a drink, it is meditation; it is prayer. So they listen to the kettle creating a melody, and in that listening they become more silent, more alert.

Osho

Do not gulp the tea but sip it slowly allowing its fragrance to fill your mouth. There is no need to have any special attitude while drinking except one of thankfulness.

Pojong Sunim
Kakuzo Okakura quote "Tea is a religion of the art of life"
“Tea is a religion of the art of life.” – Kakuzo Okakura, The Book of Tea

I say let the world go to hell, but I should always have my tea.

Fyodor Dostoevsky,
Notes from Underground

Tea is the magic key to the vault where my brain is kept.

Frances Hardinge

Tea is quiet and our thirst for tea is never far from our craving for beauty.

James Norwood Pratt

Wouldn’t it be dreadful to live in a country where they didn’t have tea?

Noel Coward

A cup of tea is an excuse to share great thoughts with great minds.

Cristina Re

If a man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.

Japansese Proverb

Ecstasy is a glass full of tea and a piece of sugar in the mouth.

Alexander Pushkin

Afternoon Tea Sayings

There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.

Henry James
Sasaki Sanmi quote "Doing nothing is respectable at tea"
“Doing nothing is respectable at tea.” – Sasaki Sanmi

The very act of preparing and serving tea encourages conversation. The little spaces in time created by teatime rituals call out to be filled with conversation. Even the tea itself–warm and comforting–inspires a feeling of relaxation and trust that fosters shared confidences.

Emilie Barnes

Tea time is a chance to slow down, pull back and appreciate our surroundings.

Letitia Baldrige

Tea! Bless ordinary everyday afternoon tea!

Agatha Christie

I always fear that creation will expire before teatime.

Sydney Smith

I got nasty habits – I take tea at three.

Mick Jagger

You have arrived at a propitious moment, coincident with your country’s one indisputable contribution to Western Civilization: Afternoon tea

Hugo Drax,
Moonraker
PG Wodehouse quote "I expect I shall feel better after tea"
“I expect I shall feel better after tea.” – P. G. Wodehouse

Tea brings time to a crawl, its frantic pace resuming on noticing our empty cups.

Terri Guillemets

When tea becomes ritual, it takes place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things.

Muriel Barbery

Come along inside… We’ll see if tea and buns can make the world a better place.

Kenneth Grahame

Tea is one of the mainstays of civilization in this country.

George Orwell

The ‘art of tea’ is a spiritual force for us to share.

Alexandra Stoddard

In nothing more is the English genius for domesticity more notably declared than in the institution of this festival-almost one may call it-of afternoon tea…the mere chink of cups and saucers tunes the mind to happy repose.

George Gigging

When tea becomes ritual, it takes its place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things.

Muriel Barbery
Lewis Caroll tea quote "Its always tea time"
“It’s always tea-time.” – Lewis Caroll

We hope you enjoyed these tea quotes and gained a new appreciation on tea’s huge place in history.

From world-famous hot tea in winter to iced tea on a summer day, enjoy this delightful drink any time of year and in nearly any country! Let us know your favorite thing about tea below.

Photo of author

Quincy Seale

Quincy is KIM's editor, and has collected and shared inspiring quotes and stories since 2005. Quincy holds an MBA from the University of Dundee and an MSc from the University of Edinburgh, and lives in San Antonio with his wife Natalie, son Alex, and his dog Oban.