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From the books ...
Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
DRINKING occurs
198 times
160 in BB • 37 in 12&12 • 1 in GV
Definition in Merriam-Webster Online
Click the page number or the book cover icon
to view that page in the literature.
1.
2.
He
plans various ways of
drinking.
3.
You may
already have
asked
yourself why it is that all
of us
became so
very ill from
drinking.
4.
5.
We
alcoholics are
men and
women who have
lost the
ability to
control our
drinking.
6.
7.
Though there is
no way of
proving it, we
believe that
early in our
drinking careers most of us could
have
stopped drinking.
8.
A
man of
thirty was
doing a
great deal of
spree drinking.
9.
His
family was
re-
assembled, and he
began to
work as a
salesman for the
business he had
lost through drinking.
10.
I had
no intention of
drinking.
11.
Still no thought of
drinking.
12.
The
best reason first: If we
skip this
vital step, we may not
overcome drinking.
13.
He is
under constant fear and
tension -- that
makes for
more drinking.
14.
After a
while,
turn the
talk to some
phase of
drinking.
15.
He
often gets entirely out of
hand when
drinking.
16.
17.
Our
next thought is that you
should
never tell him what he
must do about his
drinking.
18.
Unless they
actually need protection from their
father, it is
best not to
take sides in
any argument he has with them
while drinking.
19.
20.
Their
young minds were
impressionable while he
was
drinking.
21.
But I'm
sure this
man is
done drinking.
22.
Whenever you
want to, you
control your
drinking.
23.
This is not to
say that all
alcoholics are
honest and
upright when not
drinking.
24.
He
remarked: "I'm
mighty
glad you
fellows got over your
drinking.
25.
But not so with us in
those last days of
heavy drinking.
26.
He had, of
course, the
familiar alcoholic obsession that
few knew of his
drinking.
27.
28.
Goes off his
head completely when he's
drinking.
29.
Therefore it would
make no great difference,
even if I should
do some
drinking.
30.
31.
32.
33.
We
shall claim that our
serious character defects, if we
think we have
any at all, have been
caused chiefly by
excessive drinking.
34.
Our
reputations hadn't
suffered,
because we were
certain few knew of our
drinking.
35.
36.
"The only
requirement for
A.A. membership is a
desire to
stop drinking."
37.
38.
The only
requirement for
membership is a
desire to
stop drinking.
39.
40.
The
broker had
gone to
Akron on a
business venture which had
collapsed,
leaving him
greatly in
fear that he might
start drinking again.
41.
He
saw that he had to
place the
outcome in
God's
hands or he would
soon start drinking again, and all would be
lost anyhow.
42.
Here are some of the
methods
we have
tried:
Drinking beer only,
limiting the
number of
drinks,
never drinking alone,
never drinking in the
morning,
drinking only at
home,
never having it in the
house,
never drinking during business hours,
drinking only at
parties,
switching from
scotch to
brandy,
drinking only
natural wines,
agreeing to
resign if
ever drunk on the
job,
taking a
trip, not
taking a
trip,
swearing off
forever (with
and
without a
solemn oath),
taking more physical exercise,
reading inspirational books,
going to
health farms and
sanitariums,
accepting voluntary commitment to
asylums --
we could
increase the
list
ad infinitum.
43.
He
made up his
mind to
quit drinking altogether.
44.
45.
Especially when he has
before him a
way to
stop his
drinking and
abuse if he
really wants to
pay the
price.
46.
They are
abetted in this
blindness by a
world which
does not
understand the
difference between sane drinking and
alcoholism.
47.
For most of us,
self-
justification was the
maker of
excuses;
excuses, of
course, for
drinking, and for all
kinds of
crazy and
damaging conduct.
48.
49.
I could
eat little or
nothing when
drinking, and I was
forty pounds under weight.
50.
I
simply couldn't
stop drinking, and
no human being could
seem to do the
job for me.
51.
52.
State that you
know about his
drinking, and that it
must stop.
53.
54.
This had
little effect
however for I
kept on
drinking
and
used a
great deal more hard liquor than in
former years.
55.
56.
We have not
lost everything in
life through drinking and we
certainly do not
intend to.
57.
We
shall at
once think of a
few people who
know all about our
drinking, and who have been most
affected by it.
58.
He
wants to
quit drinking and you
want to
help him,
even if it be only a
matter of
good business.
59.
We would not
even do the
cause
of
temperate drinking any good, for not
one drinker in a
thousand likes to be
told anything about
alcohol by
one who
hates it.
60.
We, who have
recovered from
serious drinking, are
miracles of
mental health.
61.
62.
63.
... drinking assumed
more serious proportions, continuing all ...
BB
Bill's Story, p.3
64.
It was not
long before I was
drinking at
least a
case and a
half a
day.
65.
... drinking, bearing
in mind meanwhile what we ...
12&12
Step One, p.23
Why don't you
try some
more controlled drinking,
bearing in
mind meanwhile what we have
told you about
alcoholism?"
66.
67.
Here are some of the
methods
we have
tried:
Drinking beer only,
limiting the
number of
drinks,
never drinking alone,
never drinking in the
morning,
drinking only at
home,
never having it in the
house,
never drinking during business hours,
drinking only at
parties,
switching from
scotch to
brandy,
drinking only
natural wines,
agreeing to
resign if
ever drunk on the
job,
taking a
trip, not
taking a
trip,
swearing off
forever (with
and
without a
solemn oath),
taking more physical exercise,
reading inspirational books,
going to
health farms and
sanitariums,
accepting voluntary commitment to
asylums --
we could
increase the
list
ad infinitum.
68.
69.
... drinking behavior
which our friends probably know ...
12&12
Step Five, p.55
70.
71.
They should
wait for the
end of
his
next drinking bout.
72.
73.
74.
If
anyone who is
showing inability to
control his
drinking can do the
right-about-
face and
drink like a
gentleman, our
hats are off to
him.
75.
76.
He may
start off as a
moderate drinker; he may or
may not
become a
continuous hard drinker; but at some
stage of
his
drinking career he
begins to
lose all
control of his
liquor consumption,
once he
starts to
drink.
77.
78.
If he is not
communicative,
give him a
sketch of your
drinking career up to the
time you
quit.
79.
These were
reefs upon which
many of us
came to
shipwreck during our
drinking careers.
80.
81.
Though there is
no way of
proving it, we
believe that
early in our
drinking careers most of us could
have
stopped drinking.
82.
But
drinking caught up with me
again and my
generous friend had to
let me
go.
83.
84.
85.
But
drinking does
complicate sex relations in the
home.
86.
If he does not
want to
stop
drinking, don't
waste time trying to
persuade him.
87.
Here are some of the
methods
we have
tried:
Drinking beer only,
limiting the
number of
drinks,
never drinking alone,
never drinking in the
morning,
drinking only at
home,
never having it in the
house,
never drinking during business hours,
drinking only at
parties,
switching from
scotch to
brandy,
drinking only
natural wines,
agreeing to
resign if
ever drunk on the
job,
taking a
trip, not
taking a
trip,
swearing off
forever (with
and
without a
solemn oath),
taking more physical exercise,
reading inspirational books,
going to
health farms and
sanitariums,
accepting voluntary commitment to
asylums --
we could
increase the
list
ad infinitum.
88.
By
going back in our
own drinking histories, we could
show that
years before we
realized it we were
out of
control, that our
drinking even then was
no mere habit, that it was
indeed the
beginning of a
fatal progression.
89.
You
avoid the
subject of
drinking,
even with your
own parents.
90.
91.
Ministers and
doctors
are
competent and you can
learn much from them if you
wish, but it
happens that
because of your
own drinking experience you can be
uniquely useful to
other alcoholics.
92.
For an
hour, the
two friends told him about their
drinking experiences.
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
But
after his
next binge,
ask him if he would
really like to
get over drinking for
good.
99.
But don't
remind him of this
after he has been
drinking, for he
may be
angry.
100.
When our
friend related his
experience, the
man agreed that
no amount of
will power he might
muster could
stop his
drinking for
long.
101.
So we
shall describe some
of the
mental states that
precede a
relapse into
drinking, for
obviously this is
the
crux of the
problem.
102.
Our
men have
sworn great solemn oaths that they were
through
drinking forever.
103.
It may
convince your
husband he
wants to
stop drinking forever.
104.
105.
I was
graduated "
summa cum laude" in the
eyes of the
drinking fraternity, but not in the
eyes of the
Dean.
106.
When he
sees you
know all about
the
drinking game,
commence to
describe yourself as an
alcoholic.
107.
Even before our
drinking got bad
and
people began to
cut us off,
nearly all of us
suffered the
feeling that we
didn't
quite belong.
108.
109.
110.
When our
drinking had
become
much worse,
money was only an
urgent requirement which could
supply us with the
next drink and the
temporary comfort of
oblivion it
brought.
111.
How
heartily we
A.A.'s can
agree with him, for we
know that
the
pains of
drinking had to
come before sobriety, and
emotional turmoil before serenity.
112.
Moreover, it is
usually a
fact that our
behavior when
drinking has
aggravated
the
defects of
others.
113.
Our
drinking has
made us
slow to
pay.
114.
Dad may
feel that for
years his
drinking has
placed him on the
wrong side of
every argument, but that
now he has
become a
superior person with
God on his
side.
115.
116.
117.
Because of
resentment
and
drinking, he had not
paid alimony to his
first wife.
118.
After two weeks of
drinking, he had
placed his
toe on the
trigger of a
loaded shotgun -- the
barrel was in
his
mouth.
119.
120.
... drinking histories,
we could show that years ...
12&12
Step One, p.23
By
going back in our
own drinking histories, we could
show that
years before we
realized it we were
out of
control, that our
drinking even then was
no mere habit, that it was
indeed the
beginning of a
fatal progression.
121.
122.
But if you cannot or
will not
stop drinking, I
think you
ought to
resign."
123.
So our
rule is not to
avoid a
place where there is
drinking,
if we have a
legitimate reason for
being there.
124.
Near the
end of that
bleak November, I
sat drinking in my
kitchen.
125.
Here are some of the
methods
we have
tried:
Drinking beer only,
limiting the
number of
drinks,
never drinking alone,
never drinking in the
morning,
drinking only at
home,
never having it in the
house,
never drinking during business hours,
drinking only at
parties,
switching from
scotch to
brandy,
drinking only
natural wines,
agreeing to
resign if
ever drunk on the
job,
taking a
trip, not
taking a
trip,
swearing off
forever (with
and
without a
solemn oath),
taking more physical exercise,
reading inspirational books,
going to
health farms and
sanitariums,
accepting voluntary commitment to
asylums --
we could
increase the
list
ad infinitum.
126.
We
feel that
elimination
of our
drinking is but a
beginning.
127.
128.
He is
positive he can
handle his
liquor, that it does
him
no harm, that
drinking is
necessary in his
business.
129.
Be
determined that your
husband's
drinking is not
going to
spoil your
relations with your
children or your
friends.
130.
At a
certain point in the
drinking of
every alcoholic, he
passes into a
state where the most
powerful desire to
stop drinking is of
absolutely no avail.
131.
132.
133.
Drinking isolates most
homes from the
outside world.
134.
135.
It did not
satisfy us to be
told that we could not
control
our
drinking just because we were
maladjusted to
life, that we
were in
full flight from
reality, or were
outright mental defectives.
136.
But if you
really and
truly
want to
quit drinking liquor for
good and all, and
sincerely feel that you
must have some
help, we
know that we have an
answer for you.
137.
It is
probably true that you
and your
husband have been
living too
much alone, for
drinking many times isolates the
wife of an
alcoholic.
138.
As we
look back, we
feel we had
gone on
drinking many years beyond the
point where we could
quit on our
will power.
139.
His
drinking may be
constant
or it may be
heavy only on
certain occasions.
140.
141.
142.
At a
certain point in the
drinking of
every alcoholic, he
passes into a
state where the most
powerful desire to
stop drinking is of
absolutely no avail.
143.
144.
Several of our
crowd,
men of
thirty or
less, had been
drinking only a
few years, but they
found themselves as
helpless as
those who had been
drinking twenty years.
145.
Here are some of the
methods
we have
tried:
Drinking beer only,
limiting the
number of
drinks,
never drinking alone,
never drinking in the
morning,
drinking only at
home,
never having it in the
house,
never drinking during business hours,
drinking only at
parties,
switching from
scotch to
brandy,
drinking only
natural wines,
agreeing to
resign if
ever drunk on the
job,
taking a
trip, not
taking a
trip,
swearing off
forever (with
and
without a
solemn oath),
taking more physical exercise,
reading inspirational books,
going to
health farms and
sanitariums,
accepting voluntary commitment to
asylums --
we could
increase the
list
ad infinitum.
146.
Here are some of the
methods
we have
tried:
Drinking beer only,
limiting the
number of
drinks,
never drinking alone,
never drinking in the
morning,
drinking only at
home,
never having it in the
house,
never drinking during business hours,
drinking only at
parties,
switching from
scotch to
brandy,
drinking only
natural wines,
agreeing to
resign if
ever drunk on the
job,
taking a
trip, not
taking a
trip,
swearing off
forever (with
and
without a
solemn oath),
taking more physical exercise,
reading inspirational books,
going to
health farms and
sanitariums,
accepting voluntary commitment to
asylums --
we could
increase the
list
ad infinitum.
147.
Here are some of the
methods
we have
tried:
Drinking beer only,
limiting the
number of
drinks,
never drinking alone,
never drinking in the
morning,
drinking only at
home,
never having it in the
house,
never drinking during business hours,
drinking only at
parties,
switching from
scotch to
brandy,
drinking only
natural wines,
agreeing to
resign if
ever drunk on the
job,
taking a
trip, not
taking a
trip,
swearing off
forever (with
and
without a
solemn oath),
taking more physical exercise,
reading inspirational books,
going to
health farms and
sanitariums,
accepting voluntary commitment to
asylums --
we could
increase the
list
ad infinitum.
148.
149.
150.
If you
desire to
help it might
be
well to
disregard your
own drinking, or
lack of it.
151.
Do you
want to
stop drinking or not?
152.
153.
But there is
another kind of
hangover which we all
experience whether we are
drinking or not.
154.
155.
156.
Even when he
wanted to
assert himself he could not,
for his
drinking placed him
constantly in the
wrong.
157.
158.
If you have a
drinking problem, we
hope that you may
pause in
reading one of the
forty-
two personal stories and
think: "
Yes, that
happened to me"; or,
more important, "
Yes, I've
felt like that"; or, most
important, "
Yes, I
believe this
program can
work for me too."
159.
... drinking problem,
what character defects contributed to ...
12&12
Step Four, p.51
160.
161.
People have
said we
must not
go where
liquor is
served; we
must not have it in our
homes; we
must shun friends who
drink; we
must avoid moving pictures which
show drinking scenes; we
must not
go into
bars; our
friends must hide their
bottles if we
go to their
houses; we
mustn't think or be
reminded about
alcohol at
all.
162.
163.
Why sit with a
long face in
places where there is
drinking,
sighing about the
good old days.
164.
I had
discharged him for
drinking six weeks before.
165.
166.
167.
If he
sticks to the
idea that
he can
still control his
drinking,
tell him that
possibly he can -- if he is not too
alcoholic.
168.
It is
truly awful to
admit that,
glass in
hand, we have
warped our
minds into
such an
obsession for
destructive drinking that
only an
act of
Providence
can
remove it from us.
169.
170.
171.
Telling them what we are
trying to do, we
make no bones about our
drinking; they
usually know it
anyway,
whether we
think so or not.
172.
When
drinking, they were
strangers.
173.
I had been
obliged to
discharge him for
drinking,
though he was
brilliant,
alert, and
one of the
best organizers I have
ever known.
174.
175.
These
men were not
drinking to
escape; they were
drinking to
overcome a
craving beyond their
mental control.
176.
These
men were not
drinking to
escape; they were
drinking to
overcome a
craving beyond their
mental control.
177.
Several of our
crowd,
men of
thirty or
less, had been
drinking only a
few years, but they
found themselves as
helpless as
those who had been
drinking twenty years.
178.
He did
no drinking until he was
thirty-
five.
179.
180.
Though my
drinking was not
yet continuous, it
disturbed my
wife.
181.
We
clung to the
claim that
when
drinking we
never hurt anybody but
ourselves.
182.
183.
184.
We
thought "
conditions"
drove us to
drink, and when we
tried to
correct these
conditions and
found that we
couldn't to our
entire satisfaction, our
drinking
went out of
hand and we
became alcoholics.
185.
Yet all
reasons for not
drinking were
easily pushed aside in
favor of the
foolish idea that he could
take whiskey if only he
mixed it
with
milk!
186.
If we were
pretty nice people all
along,
except for our
drinking, what
need is there for a
moral inventory now that we are
sober?
187.
188.
But this was a
man who had
experienced many years of
frightful drinking, who had had most all the
drunkard's
experiences
known to
man, but who had been
cured by the
very means I had been
trying to
employ, that is to
say the
spiritual approach.
189.
190.
191.
192.
Perhaps you
enjoy drinking with him
yourself when he
doesn't
go too
far.
193.
194.
195.
Let them
remember that his
drinking wrought all
kinds of
damage that may
take long to
repair.
196.
If, when you
honestly want
to, you
find you cannot
quit entirely, or if when
drinking,
you have
little control over the
amount you
take, you are
probably alcoholic.
197.
If you are
satisfied he
really wants to
get over drinking, you
need not be
alarmed.
198.
While you were
drinking, you
were
withdrawing from
life little by
little.
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