A man who serves language, however imperfectly, should always serve truth. - Anthony Burgess

In a story you had to find a reason, but real life gets on very well without even Freudian motivations.

...it is recognised in England that home drinking is no real pleasure. We pray in a church and booze in a pub: profoundly sacerdotal at heart, we need a host in both places to preside over us. In Catholic churches as in continental bars the host is there all the time. But the Church of England kicked out the Real Presence and the licensing laws gave the landlord a terrible sacramental power. Ted was giving me grace of his own free will, holding back death – which is closing time – making a lordly grant of extra life.

…it was a cardinal rule in the East not to show one’s true feelings.