Addiction Quotes

Alcoholism isn't a spectator sport. Eventually the whole family gets to play.

family

Bacchus hath drowned more men than Neptune.

drinking

Of all the tyrannies which have usurped power over humanity, few have been able to enslave the mind and body as imperiously as drug addiction.

A junkie is someone who uses their body to tell society that something is wrong.

Every habit he's ever had is still there in his body, lying dormant like flowers in the desert.  Given the right conditions, all his old addictions would burst into full and luxuriant bloom.

habit

All sin tends to be addictive, and the terminal point of addiction is what is called damnation.

sin

The priority of any addict is to anesthetize the pain of living to ease the passage of day with some purchased relief.

I'll die young, but it's like kissing God.

A dope fiend is a man in total need of dope.  Beyond a certain frequency, need knows absolutely no limit or control.  In the words of total need: Wouldn't you?  Yes you would.  You would lie, cheat, inform on your friends, steal, do anything to satisfy total need.

Junk is the ideal product...the ultimate merchandise [ellipsis in original].  No sales talk necessary.  The client will crawl through a sewer and beg to buy.

Dope fiends are sick people who cannot act other than they do.  A rabid dog cannot choose but bite.

You become a narcotics addict because you do not have strong motivations in any other direction.  Junk wins by default.

motivation

Corporations are addicted to profit and governments to power.

To be an addict is to be something of a cognitive acrobat.  You spread versions of yourself around, giving each person the truth he or she needs—you need, actually—to keep them at a remove.

Sometimes people who need help look nothing like people who need help.

Strength

Junkies are at the top of the crazy chain.

Addiction is the disease of our age.  It is cunning and powerful.  It proceeds from our chronic spiritual hunger and is nourished by our focus on getting and spending, and on news and gossip outside ourselves.

Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol, morphine, or idealism.

There's an image I've heard people in recovery use—that getting all of one's addictions under control is a little like putting an octopus to bed.

Trying to reason with an addict was like trying to blow out a lightbulb.

Imagine everything feeling wrong.  Imagine a hole in your chest the size of God.

The fun, joy, and humor dry up in a relationship when one of the partners is swimming in gin. To my way of thinking, it is selfishness personified to see life through the bottom of a liquor bottle.

selfishness alcohol

Even though you get the monkey off your back, the circus never really leaves town.

alcohol

Alcohol is a very patient drug. It will wait for the alcoholic to pick it up ONE MORE TIME.  It will wait forever.

alcohol

Addiction is the disease of our age. It is cunning and powerful. It proceeds from our chronic spiritual hunger and is nourished by our focus on getting and spending, and on news and gossip outside ourselves.