How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"And so you see 'twas beautiful ale, and wished to value his kindness as much as I could, and not to be so ill-mannered as to drink only a thimbleful, which would have been insulting the man's generosity." (8.70)
When he tries to explain why he drank so much during a past experience, Joseph Poorgrass says that it would be rude to drink only a lit bit of beer when your host offered it to you. In other words, getting a little drunk can be the polite thing to do in certain cases. Then again, he might just be making excuses for enjoying his drinking a bit too much.
Quote #2
At the present moment [Gabriel] was engaged in handing round a mug of mild liquor, supplied from a barrel in the corner, and cut pieces of bread and cheese. (22.9)
Gabriel Oak might not be a big drinker, but that doesn't mean he's totally against the stuff. In some cases, he's even the guy who passes liquor around. As long as his men don't get too drunk, he's fine with it all.
Quote #3
Out of these say twenty will endeavor to drown the bitterness of despised love in drink: twenty more will mope away their lives without a wish or attempt to make a mark in the world. (26.42)
As we hear in this section, many men who get rejected by the women they love will take refuge in alcohol. Others will just mope for the rest of their lives. For the narrator, there isn't much of a difference between the two: both approaches are for losers.