96 Inspiring Tea Quotes

Imagine cradling a warm cup of tea, its delicate aroma wafting around you, inviting moments of tranquility and inspiration. Tea has been celebrated for centuries, not just as a soothing beverage but as a companion for thought and reflection. From poets to philosophers, many have found solace and insight in a simple cup of tea. Dive into our curated collection of the top 96 inspiring tea quotes that capture the essence of tea’s timeless charm and the wisdom it often brings to those who savor it. Whether you're a tea connoisseur or a casual sipper, these quotes are sure to warm your heart and stir your soul.

1. “Arthur blinked at the screens and felt he was missing something important. Suddenly he realized what it was."Is there any tea on this spaceship?" he asked.” - Douglas Adams

2. “There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.” - Henry James

3. “Surely everyone is aware of the divine pleasures which attend a wintry fireside; candles at four o'clock, warm hearthrugs, tea, a fair tea-maker, shutters closed, curtains flowing in ample draperies to the floor, whilst the wind and rain are raging audibly without.” - Thomas De Quincey

4. “When the girl returned, some hours later, she carried a tray, with a cup of fragrant tea steaming on it; and a plate piled up with very hot buttered toast, cut thick, very brown on both sides, with the butter running through the holes in great golden drops, like honey from the honeycomb. The smell of that buttered toast simply talked to Toad, and with no uncertain voice; talked of warm kitchens, of breakfasts on bright frosty mornings, of cosy parlour firesides on winter evenings, when one's ramble was over and slippered feet were propped on the fender, of the purring of contented cats, and the twitter of sleepy canaries.” - Kenneth Grahame

5. “I say let the world go to hell, but I should always have my tea.” - Fyodor Dostoevsky

6. “Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order. It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life.” - Kakuzo Okakura

7. “Take some more tea," the March Hare said to Alice, very earnestly."I've had nothing yet," Alice replied in an offended tone, "so I can't take more.""You mean you can't take less," said the Hatter: "it's very easy to take more than nothing.""Nobody asked your opinion," said Alice.” - Lewis Carroll

8. “We had a kettle; we let it leak:Our not repairing made it worse.We haven't had any tea for a week...The bottom is out of the Universe.” - Rudyard Kipling

9. “A simple cup of tea is far from a simple matter.” - Mary Lou Heiss

10. “She's a pot-of-tea-before-I-say-boo-to-you woman. There's always a pile of warm teabags in the sink when I come down, like what a horse would leave behind.” - Roddy Doyle

11. “There is something in the nature of tea that leads us into a world of quiet contemplation of life.” - Lin Yutang

12. “Okay, this is the wisdom. First, time spent on reconnaissanse is never wasted. Second, almost anything can be improved with the addition of bacon. And finally, there is no problem on Earth that can't be ameliorated by a hot bath and a cup of tea.” - Jasper Fforde

13. “Tea should be as bitter as wormwod and as sharp as a two eged swordKit Snicket (a series of unfortunate events)” - Lemony Snicket

14. “Who would then deny that when I am sipping tea in my tearoom I am swallowing the whole universe with it and that this very moment of my lifting the bowl to my lips is eternity itself transcending time and space?” - Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki

15. “What kind of tea do you want?""There´s more than one kind of tea?...What do you have?""Let´s see... Blueberry, Raspberry, Ginseng, Sleepytime, Green Tea, Green Tea with Lemon, Green Tea with Lemon and Honey, Liver Disaster, Ginger with Honey, Ginger Without Honey, Vanilla Almond, White Truffle Coconut, Chamomile, Blueberry Chamomile, Decaf Vanilla Walnut, Constant Comment and Earl Grey."-"I.. Uh...What are you having?... Did you make some of those up?” - Bryan Lee O'Malley

16. “My hour for tea is half-past five, and my buttered toast waits for nobody.” - Wilkie Collins

17. “If leeches ate peaches instead of my blood, then I would be free to drink tea in the mud!” - Emilie Autumn

18. “In Ireland, you go to someone's house, and she asks you if you want a cup of tea. You say no, thank you, you're really just fine. She asks if you're sure. You say of course you're sure, really, you don't need a thing. Except they pronounce it ting. You don't need a ting. Well, she says then, I was going to get myself some anyway, so it would be no trouble. Ah, you say, well, if you were going to get yourself some, I wouldn't mind a spot of tea, at that, so long as it's no trouble and I can give you a hand in the kitchen. Then you go through the whole thing all over again until you both end up in the kitchen drinking tea and chatting. In America, someone asks you if you want a cup of tea, you say no, and then you don't get any damned tea.I liked the Irish way better.” - C.E. Murphy

19. “A commission of haberdashers could alone have reported whatthe rest of her poor dress was made of, but it had a strong generalresemblance to seaweed, with here and there a gigantic tea-leaf.Her shawl looked particularly like a tea-leaf after long infusion.” - Charles Dickens

20. “I am so fond of tea that I could write a whole dissertation on its virtues. It comforts and enlivens without the risks attendant on spirituous liquors. Gentle herb! Let the florid grape yield to thee. Thy soft influence is a more safe inspirer of social joy.” - James Boswell

21. “And now it's time for tea. Teatime is teatime. And look who's here, in time for tea.” - Jonah Winter

22. “In the liquid amber within the ivory porcelain, the initiated may touch the sweet reticence of Confucius, the piquancy of Laotse, and the ethereal aroma of Sakyamuni himself.” - Kakuzo Okakura

23. “Tea would arrive, the cakes squatting on cushions of cream, toast in a melting shawl of butter, cups agleam and a faint wisp of steam rising from the teapot shawl.” - Gerald Durrell

24. “Stands the Church clock at ten to three?And is there honey still for tea?” - Rupert Brooke

25. “Surely a pretty woman never looks prettier than when making tea.” - Mary Elizabeth Braddon

26. “There are those who love to get dirty and fix things. They drink coffee at dawn, beer after work. And those who stay clean, just appreciate things. At breakfast they have milk and juice at night. There are those who do both, they drink tea.” - Gary Snyder

27. “Milk?” Lady Bridgerton asked.“Thank you,” Gareth replied. “No sugar, if you please.”“Hyacinth takes hers with three,” Gregory said, reaching for a piece of shortbread.“Why,” Hyacinth ground out, “would he care?”“Well,” Gregory replied, taking a bite and chewing, “he is your special friend.” - Julia Quinn

28. “On the delivery plate of the Nutri-Matic Drink Synthesizer was a small tray, on which say three bone china cups and saucers, a bone china jug of milk, a silver teapot full of the best tea Arthur had ever tasted and a small printed note saying "Wait.” - Douglas Adams

29. “I still encourage anyone who feels at all compelled to write to do so. I just try to warn people who hope to get published that publication is not all it is cracked up to be. But writing is. Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises. That thing you had to force yourself to do---the actual act of writing---turns out to be the best part. It's like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony. The act of writing turns out to be its own reward.” - Anne Lamott

30. “The only good thing about that decision, Gatt, is that I'll get tea before you.” - Graham Gooch

31. “The scattered tea goes with the leaves and every day a sunset dies.” - William Faulkner

32. “Sister Mary chose that moment to come in with the tea. Satanist or not, she'd also found a plate and arranged some iced biscuits on it.” - Neil Gaiman

33. “When tea becomes ritual, it takes its place at the heart of our ability to see greatness in small things. Where is beauty to be found? In great things that, like everything else, are doomed to die, or in small things that aspire to nothing, yet know how to set a jewel of infinity in a single moment?” - Muriel Barbery

34. “I feel like a cup of tea with no milk. I just had one. It was disgusting.” - Paul Colman

35. “If you want to fight hell and the power of darkness that seek to destroy the hearts of our daughters, I know a type of spiritual warfare that creates value in a daughter's spirit. It is called "Taking your Daughter out for tea" or "Going to Her Soccer Game", and it works in direct opposition to the agenda of hell and darkness that wants to destroy their lives.” - Jim Anderson

36. “As far as her mom was concerned, tea fixed everything. Have a cold? Have some tea. Broken bones? There's a tea for that too. Somewhere in her mother's pantry, Laurel suspected, was a box of tea that said, 'In case of Armageddon, steep three to five minutes'.” - Aprilynne Pike

37. “Nowadays, people resort to all kinds of activities in order to calm themselves after a stressful event: performing yoga poses in a sauna, leaping off bridges while tied to a bungee, killing imaginary zombies with imaginary weapons, and so forth. But in Miss Penelope Lumley's day, it was universally understood that there is nothing like a nice cup of tea to settle one's nerves in the aftermath of an adventure- a practice many would find well worth reviving.” - Maryrose Wood

38. “He brewed his tea in a blue china pot, poured it into a chipped white cup with forget-me-nots on the handle, and dropped in a dollop of honey and cream. He sat by the window, cup in hand, watching the first snow fall. "I am," he sighed deeply, "contented as a clam. I am a most happy man.” - Ethel Pochocki

39. “Tea should be taken in solitude.” - C.S. Lewis

40. “Why, the club was just the quietest place in the world, a place where a woman could run in to brush her hair and wash her hands, and change her library book, and have a cup of tea.” - Kathleen Thompson Norris

41. “Tea! Thou soft, thou sober,sage and venerable liquid ...to whose glorious insipidity,I owe the happiest moments of my life,let me fall prostrate.” - Colley Cibber

42. “Tea tempers the spirits and harmonizes the mind, dispels lassitude and relieves fatigue, awakens thought and prevents drowsiness, lightens or refreshes the body, and clears the perceptive faculties.” - Lu Yu

43. “The 'art of tea' is a spiritual force for us to share.” - Alexandra Stoddard

44. “Afternoon tea should be provided, fresh supplies, with thin bread-and-butter, fancy pastries, cakes, etc., being brought in as other guests arrive.” - Isabella Beeton

45. “Find yourself a cup of tea,the teapot is behind you.Now tell me abouthundreds of things.” - Saki

46. “Tea is certainly as much of a social drink as coffee, and more domestic, for the reason that the teacup hours are the family hours."” - Arthur Gray

47. “The order never varies. Two slices of bread-and-butter each, and China tea. What a hide-bound couple we must seem, clinging to custom because we did so in England. Here, on this clean balcony, white and impersonal with centuries of sun, I think of half-past-four at Manderley, and the table drawn before the library fire. The door flung open, punctual to the minute, and the performance, never-varying, of the laying of the tea, the silver tray, the kettle, the snowy cloth.” - Daphne du Maurier

48. “Nowhere is the English genius of domesticity more notably evident than in the festival of afternoon tea. The [...] chink of cups and the saucers tunes the mind to happy repose.” - George R. Gissing

49. “The hour [...] can be anywhere between three and six o'clock in the afternoon. The general rule is that the earlier tea is served, the lighter the refreshments. At three, tea is usually a snack -- dainty finger sandwiches, petits fours, fresh strawberrries; at six, it can be a meal -- or "high" tea -- with sausage rolls, salads, and trifle.” - Angela Hynes

50. “Christopher Robin was home by this time, because it was the afternoon, and he was so glad to see them that they stayed there until very nearly tea-time, and then they had a Very Nearly tea, which is one you forget about afterwards, and hurried on to Pooh Corner, so as to see Eeyore before it was too late to have a Proper Tea with Owl.” - A.A. Milne

51. “In a few minutes tea was brought. Very delicate was the china, very old the plate, very thin the bread-and-butter, and very small the lumps of sugar. Sugar was evidently Mrs. Jamieson's favourite economy.” - Elizabeth Gaskell

52. “The effect of tea is cooling and as a beverage it is most suitable. It is especially fitting for persons of self-restraint and inner worth.” - Lu Yu

53. “The usual for me." The usual was a strong infusion of different kinds of Oriental teas, which raised her spirits after her siesta.” - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

54. “With melted snow I boil fragrant tea.” - Mencius

55. “The tea ceremony requires years of training and practice ... yet the whole of this art, as to its detail, signifies no more than the making and serving of a cup of tea. The supremely important matter is that the act be performed in the most perfect, most polite, most graceful, most charming manner possible.” - Lafcadio Hearn

56. “Tea at the Ritz is the last delicious morsel of Edwardian London. The light is kind, the cakes are frivolous and the tempo is calm, confident and leisurely.” - Helen Simpson

57. “A combination of fine tea, enchanting objects and soothing surroundings exerts a therapeutic effect by washing away the corrosive strains and stress of modern life. [... It] induces a mood that is spiritually refreshing [and produces] a genial state of mind.” - John Blofeld

58. “Those dripping crumpets, I can see them now. Tiny crisp wedges of toast, and piping-hot, flaky scones. Sandwiches of unknown nature, mysteriously flavoured and quite delectable, and that very special gingerbread. Angel cake, that melted in the mouth, and his rather stodgier companion, bursting with peel and raisins. There was enough food there to keep a starving family for a week.” - Daphne du Maurier

59. “When the tea is brought at five o'clockAnd all the neat curtains are drawn with care,The little black cat with bright green eyesIs suddenly purring there.” - Harold Monro

60. “You can serve high tea around the dining room table, but afternoon tea is more of a living room occasion, with everything brought in on a tray or a cart.” - Angela Hynes

61. “I can just imagine myself sitting down at the head of the table and pouring out the tea," said Anne, shutting her eyes ecstatically. "And asking Diana if she takes sugar! I know she doesn't but of course I'll ask her just as if I didn't know.” - L.M. Montgomery

62. “While her lips talked culture, her heart was planning to invite him to tea” - E.M. Forster

63. “There are few nicer things than sitting up in bed, drinking strong tea, and reading.” - Alan Clark

64. “I explained to him - as I withdrew the cup, ripped open the sachet and dunked the tea bag - that tea was an infusion, which meant that it was vital for the water to be actually boiling when it came into contact with the leaves. He looked at me furiously... I had behaved like this many times before: taking Canute's stance in the path of the great surge of ill-brewed tepid tea that was inundating England.” - Will Self

65. “A great idea should always be left to steep like loose tea leaves in a teapot for a while to make sure that the tea will be strong enough and that the idea truly is a great one.” - Phoebe Stone

66. “I am in no way interested in immortality, but only in the taste of tea.” - Lu T'ung

67. “Dad was at his desk when I opened the door, doing what all British people do when they're freaked out: drinking tea.” - Rachel Hawkins

68. “Come oh come ye tea-thirsty restless ones -- the kettle boils, bubbles and sings, musically.” - Rabindranath Tagore

69. “Tea ... is a religion of the art of life.” - Kakuzo Okakura

70. “I don't want tea, I want justice!” - Ally Carter

71. “I looked at Judith. "This sounds strange, but I don't suppose you saw three mad women with a cauldron of boiling tea pass by this way?""No," she replied. The polite voice of reasonable people scared of exciting the madman."Flash of light? Puff of smoke? Erm..." I tried to find a polite way of describing the symptoms of spontaneous teleportation without using the dreaded "teleportation" word. I failed. I slumped back into the sand. What kind of mystic kept a spatial vortex at the bottom of their cauldrons of tea anyway?” - Kate Griffin

72. “After a cup of tea (two spoonsful for each cup, and don't let it stand more than three minutes,) it says to the brain, "Now, rise, and show your strength. Be eloquent, and deep, and tender; see, with a clear eye, into Nature and into life; spread your white wings of quivering thought, and soar, a god-like spirit, over the whirling world beneath you, up through long lanes of flaming stars to the gates of eternity!” - Jerome K. Jerome

73. “I was learning, even in my brief time in England, that a cup of tea almost always helped. I didn't know whether it was the caffeine, the warmth, or the simple fact of having someone else do something kind, but a soothing cup of tea in Harriet Dalrymple's cottage was fast becoming my lifeline to sanity.” - Beth Pattillo

74. “This will not do,' he said to himself. 'If I go on like this I shall become a crazy fool. This must stop! I promised the doctor I would not take tea. Faith, he was pretty right! My nerves must have been getting in a queer state. Funny I did not notice it. I never felt better in my life. However it is all right now, and I shall not be such a fool again.' Then he mixed himself a good stiff glass of brandy and water and resolutely sat down to his work.” - Bram Stoker

75. “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

76. “I thought Mr. Millward never would cease telling us that he was no tea-drinker, and that it was highly injurious to keep loading the stomach with slops to the exclusion of more wholesome sustenance, and so give himself time to finish his fourth cup.” - Anne Brontë

77. “Tea is the elixir of life.” - Eisai

78. “One Bagatelle, and I’ll raise you a novel,” Megan had tweeted back.“Writing for tea? Now that would have been a solution for the British empire,” Laura returned.“Writing for me,” Megan had typed.“I’ll write you a tea fortune.”“No deal. I want a novel. September sounds good.” - L.L. Barkat

79. “Have tea, might write,” Laura returned.” - L.L. Barkat

80. “Tea was more than boiling water. There were decisions to be made and a frame of mind to develop, no matter how imperceptible.” - L.L. Barkat

81. “I'd watch her, amazed at just how much a person could accomplish fueled by tea and regret.” - Katja Millay

82. “The truth of the matter is, that most English people don't know how to make tea anymore either, and most people drink cheap instant coffee instead, which is a pity, and gives Americans the impression that the English are just generally clueless about hot stimulants.” - Douglas Adams

83. “ "At Christmas, tea is compulsory. Relatives are optional.” - Robert Godden

84. “She gave in to a hankering for a cup of tea even though she knew that the idea of a cup of tea-sitting still, calmly sipping-was more appealing than actually sitting still and trying to calmly sip.” - Maryanne O'Hara

85. “Imagine a delicious glass of summer iced tea.Take a long cool sip. Listen to the ice crackle and clink.Is the glass part full or part empty?Take another sip.And now?” - Vera Nazarian

86. “In Britain, a cup of tea is the answer to every problem.Fallen off your bicycle? Nice cup of tea.Your house has been destroyed by a meteorite? Nice cup of tea and a biscuit.Your entire family has been eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex that has travelled through a space/time portal? Nice cup of tea and a piece of cake. Possibly a savoury option would be welcome here too, for example a Scotch egg or a sausage roll.” - David Walliams

87. “Drinking tea with a pinch of imagination!” - 50 Ways to Drink Tea

88. “..She had that brand of pragmatism that would find her the first brewing tea after Armageddon.” - Clive Barker

89. “As the message drained away Vimes stared at the opposite wall, in which the door now opened, after a cursory knock, to reveal the steward bearing that which is guaranteed to frighten away all nightmares, to wit, a cup of hot tea.** The sound of the gentle rattle of china cup on china saucer drives away all demons, a little-known fact.” - Terry Pratchett

90. “The proper, wise balancing of one's whole life may depend upon the feasibility of a cup of tea at an unusual hour.” - Arnold Bennett

91. “That's what sofas are for: sit down, drink a cup of tea, talk of literature. At least that's how I see it.” - Sophie Divry

92. “She stood by the tea-table in a light-coloured muslin gown, which had a good deal of pink about it. She looked as if she was not attending to the conversation, but solely busy with the tea-cups, among which her round ivory hands moved with pretty, noiseless, daintiness.” - Elizabeth Gaskell

93. “Her face was like a pot of tea about to whistle.” - Carolyn Turgeon

94. “The seasonal urge is strong in poets. Milton wrote chiefly in winter. Keats looked for spring to wake him up (as it did in the miraculous months of April and May, 1819). Burns chose autumn. Longfellow liked the month of September. Shelley flourished in the hot months. Some poets, like Wordsworth, have gone outdoors to work. Others, like Auden, keep to the curtained room. Schiller needed the smell of rotten apples about him to make a poem. Tennyson and Walter de la Mare had to smoke. Auden drinks lots of tea, Spender coffee; Hart Crane drank alcohol. Pope, Byron, and William Morris were creative late at night. And so it goes.” - Helen Bevington

95. “a hardened and shameless tea-drinker, who has, for twenty years, diluted his meals with only the infusion of this fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and, with tea, welcomes the morning.” - Samuel Johnson

96. “No, she did not want to go to hospital. Yes, she would like a cup of tea. Only then did she begin to think rationally again.” - Stieg Larsson