A conflation of two biblical sayings: ecclesiastes viii. 15 (AV) Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry ‥ and isaiah xxii. 13 (AV) Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die. There are a number of jocular variants (see for example quot. 2001).
Eat thou and drink; tomorrow thou shalt die.
[1870 D. G. Rossetti ‘The Choice’ in House of Life, Sonnet lxxi.]
But far from prompting him to repeat the maxim ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!’ it spurred him rather to a sort of fiery energy, never satisfied with what it had accomplished.
[1884 E. Lyall We Two xii. 240]
Inchcape‥complained: ‘I've never before seen this place in such a hubbub.’ ‘It's the war,’ said Clarence. ‘Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we may be starving to death.’
[1960 O. Manning Great Fortune (1988) 42]
No point in getting morbid. ‥What the hell. Eat, drink, and be merry, and all that crap. Lukas signaled the waiter and ordered another two croissants.
[1975 N. Guild Lost and Found Man 87]
Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we diet.
[2001 New Scientist 22/29 Dec. 45]
Related to: life; opportunity
Bibliography of major proverb collections and works cited from modern editions is available here.
