quotations about alcoholism
There's a certain point when you fall down the staircase, and you look around, and no one is amused anymore. By 35, I was in that precarious place where I knew I drank too much, but I believed I could manage somehow. I was seeing a therapist, and when I talked to her about my blackouts, she gasped. I bristled at her concern. Her tone was alarmist, like the pamphlet I'd once read, but a trip to any keg party would illustrate that if blackouts doomed a person to alcoholism, then most of us were doomed.
"Everyone has blackouts," I told her.
She locked eyes with me. "No, they don't."
SARAH HEPOLA
Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget
Alcohol is among humankind's oldest pleasures, so highly regarded that the ancient Greeks and Romans called wine a "gift from the gods."
NIGEL DENBY
Nutrition for Dummies
am i still learning how to live sober i thought i had it nailed so excited about one year have been planning my final post saying goodbye to blogger thinking one year is all i need but now i'm crying writing this i don't think 365 days is any different to 364 or 370 it's just on and on and can i really say goodbye to my friends my only support
MRS. D
"Punctuation can go jump", Mrs. D Is Going Without, September 3, 2012
Alcoholism isn't a sexy topic. In fact, when we talk about alcohol consumption these days, we tend to tread on the lighter side and steer clear of serious talk of alcohol abuse. In movies and on TV, we see people drinking alcohol and partying regularly in a normalized way -- when, in reality, the characters are often dangerously flirting with alcoholism.
GINA M. FLORIO
"11 Signs You're An Alcoholic (Or At Least Need Help)", Bustle, February 9, 2016
Dehortations from the use of strong liquors have been the favourite topic of sober declaimers in all ages, and have been received with abundance of applause by water-drinking critics. But with the patient himself, the man that is to be cured, unfortunately their sound has seldom prevailed.
CHARLES LAMB
"Confessions of a Drunkard", The Last Essays of Elia
Other countries drink to get drunk, and this is accepted by everyone; in France, drunkenness is a consequence, never an intention. A drink is felt as the spinning out of a pleasure, not as the necessary cause of an effect which is sought: wine is not only a philtre, it is also the leisurely act of drinking.
ROLAND BARTHES
Mythologies
For many years, I was confounded by my blackouts, but the mechanics are quite simple. The blood reaches a certain alcohol saturation point and shuts down the hippocampus. Such a peculiar word, hippocampus, like a children's book character. I imagine a beast with a twitching snout and big, flapping eyelashes. But it's actually the part of the brain responsible for making long-term memories. You drink enough, and the beast stops twitching. Shutdown. No more memories.
SARAH HEPOLA
Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget
I'm such an alcoholic that I go to church just for communion.
JAROD KINTZ
$3.33
Alcoholism is what raises man above the utilitarians.
EVE TUSHNET
Amends
I don't say that the drunk man is the real man, and the sober man merely a shell. But you find out something different about people when they're drunk. Of course, you sometimes find that they're not different at all--that you merely get more of the same, perhaps said rather more loudly and incoherently, but basically the same.
KINGSLEY AMIS
The Paris Review, winter 1975
The contrast which exists between the abstemious man and the drunkard is this--the former governs his affairs, but the affairs of the latter govern him.
WILLIAM SCOTT DOWNEY
Proverbs
If alcoholism is a disease, it is a strange one, because the alcoholic is the most direct cause of his or her own sickness. If alcoholism is not a disease, then what else might it be?... If alcoholism is defined as a personal failure or a moral weakness, alcoholics are less likely to be viewed with sympathy and compassion. They might be admonished to quit drinking, be put in prison, or be punished in some other way. These responses to their alcoholism would be administered primarily by the legal system rather than the health care system, as medical interventions are not designed to remedy moral failings.
WAYNE WEITEN
Psychology: Themes and Variations
I thought AAA was an organization for really bad alcoholics.
RITA RUDNER
stand-up routine
Alcoholism is a major player in the essential makeup of country music. Country music in and of itself is about relatability to the working class. A lot of working-class people have these problems.
JOSHUA HEDLEY
"Country Up-and-Comers Talk Sobriety in a Drunken Genre", Nashville Scene, February 2, 2017
Contrary to popular opinion, alcoholism is a biological disease and not a moral flaw. The uber-conservative American Medical Association has categorized it as such since the 1950s. So, instead of looking down on a problem drinker as a ne'er do well, take a compassionate approach to the issue. Become part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
KATHLEEN BEGLEY
"Begley: Tips for dealing with alcoholism in the workplace", Daily Local News, March 7, 2016
Often people display a curious respect for a man drunk, rather like the respect of simple races for the insane. Respect rather than fear. There is something awe-inspiring in one who has lost all inhibitions, who will do anything.
F. SCOTT FITZGERALD
Tender Is the Night
You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.
DEAN MARTIN
attributed, Wit
Perhaps alcoholism is a sort of chemical misfortune, something you are simply born with.
IAN THOMSON
"Amy Liptrot's The Outrun: how Orkney saved a girl from alcoholism", The Telegraph, February 19, 2016
The person takes a drink, the drink takes a drink, and the drink takes the person.
JOSEPH MARTIN
attributed, "Alchohol abuse and alcoholism revisited", Valley Morning Star, February 12, 2017
It's not at all surprising that research touting alcohol's health benefits has been heavily pushed by the alcohol industry.
DIRK HANSON
"The Myth of Healthy Drinking", Addiction Inbox, May 25, 2018