"Your God is the bartender. The bartender is always God, or haven't you noticed?"
"I hadn't, but go on. You will, anyway."
"Drinkers are all alike. They go to the bartender for peace, for release. They tell him their troubles in confessional. Like God he dispenses wisdom, judgement, guidance. He rules supreme in his own world. He is quick to punish the transgressor. He can also reward with his favor -- or with free drinks. He is omniscient and all-powerful. He knows everything about everybody within the microcosmic universe of the tavern. He is the source of solace and consolation. And he is worshiped in libations, with sacramental wine that produces divine intoxication. He is also, I might add, the father-image. Or more exactly, an idealization of the father. The infantile regressions of the dipsomaniac fit into this pattern of unconscious symbolism."
"Funny you should say that. I never drank until Dad was killed."

-Robert Bloch, Spiderweb