35 Quotes About Addiction and Loved Ones

Being confronted with an addiction can be one of the most difficult periods of your life to overcome. These quotes about addiction and loved ones are the perfect testimonies to the types of challenges that lay ahead.

“Addiction — When you can give up something any time, as long as it’s next Tuesday.”

“Addiction begins with the hope that something”out there” can instantly fill up the emptiness inside.”

“Addictions … started out like magical pets, pocket monsters. They did extraordinary tricks, showed you things you hadn’t seen, were fun. But came, through some gradual dire alchemy, to make decisions for you.”

“Addicts know no shame. You disgrace yourself so many times you become immune to it.”

“Addicts never stand still; they are either getting better, or they are getting worse.”

“An addict is someone who uses their body to tell society that something is wrong.”

“An intelligent person can rationalize anything, a wise person doesn’t try.”

“An over-indulgence of anything, even something as pure as water, can intoxicate.”

“At every stage, addiction is driven by one of the most powerful, mysterious, and vital forces of human existence. What drives addiction is longing–a longing not just of brain, belly, or loins but finally of the heart.”

“At first, addiction is maintained by pleasure, but the intensity of this pleasure gradually diminishes and the addiction is then maintained by the avoidance of pain.”

“Because they are human beings, addicts long for wholeness, for fulfillment, and for the final good that believers call God. Like all idolatries, addiction taps this vital spiritual force and draws off its energies to objects and processes that drain the addict instead of fulfilling him.”

“But I’m not a saint yet. I’m an alcoholic. I’m a drug addict. I’m homosexual. I’m a genius.”

“Even when I took the drugs I realized that this just wasn’t fun anymore. The drugs had become a part of my routine. Something to wake me up. Something to help me sleep.”

“Every addiction is a good thing gone bad–desire gone awry.”

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

“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.”

“He was lovable the way a child is lovable, and he was capable of returning love with a childlike purity. If love is nevertheless excluded from his work, it’s because he never quite felt that he deserved to receive it.”

“I admire addicts. In a world where everybody is waiting for some blind, random disaster or some sudden disease, the addict has the comfort of knowing what will most likely wait for him down the road.”

“I am a work in progress.”

“I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason.”

“I suspect it may be like the difference between a drinker and an alcoholic; the one merely reads books, the other needs books to make it through the day.”

“Imagine trying to live without air. Now imagine something worse.”

“Most Substance-addicted people are also addicted to thinking, meaning they have a compulsive and unhealthy relationship with their own thinking.”

“No one told me you can love someone and still be miserable. How is that possible?”

“One thing I’ve learned is it’s better to be addicted to things than people. You get hooked on a thing and if someone takes it from you, you can find another source. Only people can really hurt you. Only people can push you out into the cold permanently.”

“Reality is just a crutch for people who can’t handle drugs.”

“The three most harmful addictions are heroin, carbohydrates, and a monthly salary.”

“There are all kinds of addicts, I guess. We all have pain. And we all look for ways to make the pain go away.”

“Understanding the difference between healthy striving and perfectionism is critical to laying down the shield and picking up your life.”

“We are addicted to our thoughts. We cannot change anything if we cannot change our thinking.”

“What if I’m so broken I can never do something as basic as feed myself? Do you realize how twisted that is? It amazes me sometimes that humans still exist.”

“When you can stop you don’t want to, and when you want to stop, you can’t.”

“Where life is seen as a burden, full of unpleasant and useless struggles, addiction is a way to surrender. The difference between not being addicted and being addicted is the difference between seeing the world as your arena and seeing the world as your prison.”

“Whether you sniff it smoke it eat it or shove it up your ass the result is the same: addiction.”

“You can get the monkey off your back, but the circus never leaves town.”

Breaking a habit is difficult to do, especially because it has become a part of your identity and routine.