Alcohol
Quotes - Alcohol became my only refuge
“The
real sadness was that I drifted away from my wife and children because of
alcohol, but instead of finding the current back to them when I ceased, I
camped out on an uncharted island in the middle of myself.”
―
Percival Everett, So Much Blue
“We
have Instagram-worthy lives, but we have a wine glass that can never seem to be
full enough at the end of the day.”
―
Rachel Mack Martin, Functional: A High Performer's Guide to Achieving Freedom
from Alcohol
“It’s
like one of the greatest questions in the universe, right? What came first—the
booze or the blues? Hell if I know.”
―
U-Nam, A Guitar Named Swampy: A Novel
“Attachment
and aversion are two short term strategies. There is a third. Some people reach
for the bottle. It may be a bottle of alcohol or a bottle of pills, but the
effect is much the same. Quite a large proportion of the population find it
difficult to bear even one day without the effect of alcohol. Much of the
agricultural land in the world is devoted exclusively to the production of
alcohol — and this while others starve. Yet alcohol does much physical damage
to our bodies and leads to socially destructive behaviour. Of course, oblivion
is not sought solely through drinking. Many other drugs are used many of them
nowadays prescribed by doctors. Oblivion is an accepted 'solution' for many
people. The ultimate oblivion-seeking behaviour is suicide. Where hateful
behaviour can do massive damage in a short time and greedy behaviour has a slow
undermining effect upon our lives, behaviour based on the desire for oblivion
does both. We suffer in the short run and we suffer in the long run. This is
the most extreme form of escapism. The attempt to destroy suffering in this
way, however, destroys us.”
―
David Brazier, The Feeling Buddha: A Buddhist Psychology of Character,
Adversity and Passion
“Alcohol
became my only refuge. I had to stay drunk constantly, eventually becoming
incapable of functioning in daily life. I reached a point where I needed to
find myself before finding my wife and daughter again.”
―
Kim Ho-yeon, The Second Chance Convenience Store
“I
used to be better at hangovers, back in Ireland. Of course, then I had one
every day," he reflected. "I had more practice.”
―
Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove
“Alcohol
is a straight-up hard drug. That’s not a moral judgment; it’s a scientific
fact. On a biochemical level, alcohol affects the brain in the same way as
Valium, Xanax, Ambien, GHB, and Quaaludes. All of them act on the GABA
receptors in the brain and thus qualify as a type of drug called a GABAergic.
Taking these drugs in small quantities can produce positive feelings and
relaxation, but consuming too much can seriously mess you up. In fact,
GABAergics can become so physically addictive that, in extreme cases,
attempting to quit cold turkey can kill you.
But
thanks to the wonders of advertising, people don’t think of alcohol that way.
The beverage industry has spent billions of dollars to brainwash people into
believing that drinking booze is fun and harmless: it’s how cool people
socialize. Drinking makes you more popular and more confident, and if you play
your cards right, it might even get you laid. As a result of this
industrial-level gaslighting, it’s not uncommon for politicians to publicly
proclaim that recreational drug use is morally repugnant and a blight on
society—while simultaneously, those same politicians drink alcohol all the damn
time.”
―
Sam Kelly, Human History on Drugs: An Utterly Scandalous but Entirely Truthful
Look at History Under the Influence
“Alcohol
was my best friend because it never wanted to talk about itself. It was just
always there, the mute dog at my heel, gazing up at me, always ready to go on a
walk. It took away so much of the pain, including the fact that when I was
alone, I was lonely, and that when I was with people, I was lonely, too.”
―
Matthew Perry, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing
“Only
middle-aged women drink wine from glasses. Men either use cups or drink it
straight from the bottle.”
―
Eib Shocky, Lost Seeking Dreams
“Surely
in this vale of tears we call life, the ill, the halt, and the lame find it
curious that some people with constitutions like bull calves sometimes consider
their good health and strength a curse rather than a blessing. It can be,
though. In fistfights, even beaten senseless, we don't fall down nearly soon
enough; the joys of drug abuse don't seem to take their proper toll; and,
sometimes, when we try to drink ourselves to death, we fail miserably. Miserably.”
―
James Crumley, Dancing Bear
“Those
painful childhood memories we bury, that some of us try and drown out with sex,
drugs, alcohol, gambling, all the usual crutches and distractions. These
childhood experiences are going to be really painful to engage with, no one
wants anyone else to be exposed to their deepest, darkest, most shameful
secrets, but unless these issues are talked about they can never be defeated,
and you will never be at peace with yourself or anyone else. You have one day
got to face that shit head-on and defeat it. Believe me.”
―
Bobby Gillespie, Tenement Kid
“in
drinking I may seek compassion and feeling. It is not joy I seek, but sorrow
only...I drink, for I wish doubly to suffer!”
―
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment
