quotations about alcoholism
To dispute with a drunkard is to debate with an empty house.
PUBLILIUS SYRUS
The Moral Sayings of Publilius Syrus
Most recovering alcoholics in early sobriety have trouble believing they'll ever have fun again but if they hang in there, it's amazing how good life can become.
ELIZABETH ZELVIN
interview, The Fix
Drink does not drown Care, but waters it, and makes it grow faster.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Poor Richard's Almanack, 1749
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
PROVERBS 20:1
Drunkenness being nothing but a voluntary madness, it emboldens men to undertake all sorts of mischief; it both irritates wickedness and discovers it; it does not only make men vicious, but shows them to be so; and the end of it is either shame or repentance.
WELLINS CALCOTT
Thoughts Moral and Divine
I always drank, from when it was legal for me to drink. And there was never a time for me when the goal wasn't to get as hammered as I could possibly afford to. I never understood social drinking, that's always seemed to me like kissing your sister.
STEPHEN KING
interview, Sept. 14, 2000
Drunkenness is temporary suicide.
BERTRAND RUSSELL
The Conquest of Happiness
Let us be clear and concise on this point: Alcoholism is a disease. We can never be cured of alcoholism, but we can arrest the disease and pull it up on its tracks. There is no such thing as a cured alcoholic or an ex-alcoholic. They simply don't exist ... the recovering alcoholic is only ever one drink away from relapse.
TYRONE PATRICK FAHEY
One Man's Take on Beating Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a disease of the whole person.
MAURICE GELINAS
How to Overcome Alcoholism
Being sober a long time is a gift, but watching it touch lives around us is even sweeter.
GENE O.
"Beautiful Ripples", Grapevine, March 2016
Alcoholism is a disease that tells you that you haven't got a problem. You are the only one who can't see it. You become divided from your friends from your family and from reality in a drip drip process that is so insipid and take so long that it's impossible to tell when the problem started.
IVAN MASSOW
"Alcoholism is a Disease That Tells You That You Haven't Got a Problem", Huffington Post, August 6, 2015
When you go out with a drunk, you'll notice how a drunk fills your glass so he can empty his own. As long as you're drinking, drinking is okay. Two's company. Drinking is fun. If there's a bottle, even if your glass isn't empty, he'll pour a little in your glass before he fills his own.
CHUCK PALAHNIUK
Invisible Monsters
Frankly, I was horrified by life, at what a man had to do simply in order to eat, sleep, and keep himself clothed. So I stayed in bed and drank. When you drank the world was still out there, but for the moment it didn't have you by the throat.
CHARLES BUKOWSKI
Factotum
Refrain from drink which is the source of all evil--and the ruin of half the workmen in this Country.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
letter to Thomas Green, Mar. 31, 1789
It's typical for an alcoholic's social life to be driven primarily by booze. They tend to start tossing back the cocktails before they even get to the party, and that continues well into the night, maybe even after the event has come to an end. This can be a hard one to come to terms with. It's all too easy to tell yourself, "What would a birthday party be like without alcohol? This is how normal people live their lives!" Although many social events do involve sharing a few drinks, not all of them do. Think about the last time you got together with people and you were sober. If you're having trouble conjuring up that memory, it might be time to get help.
GINA M. FLORIO
"11 Signs You're An Alcoholic (Or At Least Need Help)", Bustle, February 9, 2016
A drunkard is like a whiskey-bottle, all neck and belly and no head.
AUSTIN O'MALLEY
Keystones of Thought
That's the problem with drinking, I thought, as I poured myself a drink. If something bad happens you drink in an attempt to forget; if something good happens you drink in order to celebrate; and if nothing happens you drink to make something happen.
CHARLES BUKOWSKI
Women
I feel sorry for people who don't drink. When they wake up in the morning, that's as good as they're going to feel all day.
FRANK SINATRA
attributed, The Hangover Survival Guide
Physicians who are familiar with alcoholism agree there is no such thing as making a normal drinker out of an alcoholic.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
The Big Book
As we became subjects of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker. Some of us sought out sordid places, hoping to find understanding companionship and approval. Momentarily we did -- then would come oblivion and the awful awakening to face the hideous Four Horsemen -- Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, Despair.
ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
The Big Book