Can a line from ancient Greece still tell us something useful about living longer today? A popular saying attributed to Pythagoras suggests that if you want a long life, you should keep “a little old wine and an old friend.” It sounds elegant. Almost comforting. But when that advice is measured against modern health evidence, science only clearly backs one half of it.
Pythagoras himself is widely known as a Greek philosopher and mathematician, and his name still carries the weight of ancient wisdom.
That is why the quote still catches people’s attention. It feels simple in a world full of complicated health advice. But public health experts now treat social connection as a serious factor in health and longevity, not just a nice extra for people with spare time. And that is where the “old friend” part starts to look surprisingly modern.
Why the old friend still matters
The World Health Organization said in June 2025 that 1 in 6 people worldwide is affected by loneliness, and that strong social connections can lead to better health and longer life. The same WHO release linked loneliness to more than 871,000 deaths a year, which works out to about 100 deaths every hour. That turns friendship from a warm idea into something much more concrete.
U.S. health data tell a similar story. The Surgeon General’s advisory on social connection found that loneliness and social isolation raise the risk of premature death by 26% and 29%, respectively. It also reported that lacking social connection can be as harmful as smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day.
On top of that, a large meta-analysis covering 148 studies and 308,849 participants found that people with stronger social relationships had a 50% higher likelihood of survival. More recent HHS material also says poor social relationships, social isolation, and loneliness can raise the risk of heart disease by 29% and stroke by 32%.
The wine part has not aged as well
Here, the ancient formula runs into a modern wall. The U.S. Surgeon General said in January 2025 that alcohol consumption increases the risk of at least seven types of cancer, including breast, liver, colorectal, mouth, and throat cancers. WHO also says no form of alcohol consumption is risk free, and that even low levels can bring health risks.
That does not mean every glass of wine leads straight to disaster. Risk depends on how much people drink, how often they drink, and their own health context. Still, the bigger picture is hard to ignore. WHO estimates that alcohol was linked to 2.6 million deaths worldwide in 2019. So while an old bottle may carry romance and tradition, it does not come with a medical promise.
An ancient quote with a modern edit
Why does the saying survive? Probably because it understands something everyday life keeps proving. People tend to do better when they do not move through life alone. An older friend can mean memory, support, humor, routine, and the kind of steady presence no trendy longevity hack can replace. In that sense, Pythagoras may still speak to us across the centuries, even if science has revised the menu a bit.
The clearest takeaway is simple. Keep the old friend. Protect the relationships that make life feel shared. The wine belongs in a different category. Today’s evidence suggests caution and moderation, not a shortcut to longevity. Ancient wisdom can still be beautiful, but science sometimes asks us to trim it down.
The press release was published on “WHO’s website.”
