More About alcoholism A.A. Big Book

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.

And be careful not to brand him as an alcoholic.

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.

You will soon have your friend admitting he has many, if not all, of the traits of the alcoholic.

Some of us still serve it to our friends provided they are not alcoholic.

He would probably be insulted if he were called an alcoholic.

These are the earmarks of a real alcoholic.

As to them, his policy is undoubtedly sound, but he did not distinguish between such people and the alcoholic.

To the doubters we could say, "Perhaps you're not an alcoholic after all.

Never once in my life have I had a headache, which fact leads me to believe that I was an alcoholic almost from the start.

We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again: "Once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic."

(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.

In one of these there is a well-known hospital for the treatment of alcoholic and drug addiction.

They grinned, which I didn't like so much, and then asked me if I thought myself alcoholic and if I were really licked this time.

He agreed he was a real alcoholic and in a serious condition.

We hope we have made clear the distinction between the alcoholic and the non-alcoholic.

The man in the bed was told of the acute poisoning from which he suffered, how it deteriorates the body of an alcoholic and warps his mind.

He knows the alcoholic as the employer sees him.

If you are as seriously alcoholic as we were, we believe there is no middle-of-the-road solution.

If you are satisfied that he is a real alcoholic, begin to dwell on the hopeless feature of the malady.

Why not bring him into contact with some of our alcoholic crowd?

Though an alcoholic does not respond, there is no reason why you should neglect his family.

We suggest that you direct some of your thought to the wives of his new alcoholic friends.

I now remembered what my alcoholic friends had told me, how they prophesied that if I had an alcoholic mind, the time and place would come -- I would drink again.

It was then discovered that when one alcoholic had planted in the mind of another the true nature of his malady, that person could never be the same again.

We do not like the thought that the contents of a book or the work of another alcoholic has accomplished in a few weeks that for which we struggled for years.

To him the alcoholic has often seemed a fool of the first magnitude.

We won't be biased or scared off by that fact, because although he was not an alcoholic he did, like us, go through the emotional wringer.

If he is alcoholic, he will understand you at once.

If we hired an alcoholic, he'd receive only what we'd have to pay a nonalcoholic for the same job.

These are some of the questions which race through the mind of every woman who has an alcoholic husband.

Try not to condemn your alcoholic husband no matter what he says or does.

The doctor said: "You have the mind of a chronic alcoholic. I have never seen one single case recover, where that state of mind existed to the extent that it does in you."

But not so with the alcoholic illness, for with it there goes annihilation of all the things worth while in life.

An alcoholic in his cups is an unlovely creature.

Rumor had it that he had been committed for alcoholic insanity.

But if you are shaky, you had better work with another alcoholic instead!

Any alcoholic is a member of A.A. when he says so.

Many do not comprehend that the alcoholic is a very sick person.

That he has not always done so for the alcoholic is easily understood.

In this statement he confirms what we who have suffered alcoholic torture must believe -- that the body of the alcoholic is quite as abnormal as his mind.

More than most people, the alcoholic leads a double life.

To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one.

The alcoholic may say to himself in the most casual way, "It won't burn me this time, so here's how!"

Whether the family goes on a spiritual basis or not, the alcoholic member has to if he would recover.

We are much more afraid of what people might say than the trouble this strange alcoholic might bring.

I knew from that moment that I had an alcoholic mind.

I now remembered what my alcoholic friends had told me, how they prophesied that if I had an alcoholic mind, the time and place would come -- I would drink again.

An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter with his spiritual status.

What irony -- I became an alcoholic myself!

An alcoholic of this temperament may be quick to use this chapter as a club over your head.

For example, we know of situations in which the alcoholic or his wife have had love affairs.

They see in them a way to happy and effective living for many, alcoholic or not.

This may lay the groundwork for a friendly talk about his alcoholic problem.

I don't see how you can be of any help to us for, as you see, we don't have any alcoholic problem."

His alcoholic problem was so complex, and his depression so great, that we felt his only hope would be through what we then called "moral psychology," and we doubted if even that would have any effect.

His alcoholic problem was taken away.

He need not, and often should not show it to his alcoholic prospect.

Some of our alcoholic readers may think they can do without spiritual help.

Sometimes we hear an alcoholic say that the only thing he needs to do is to keep sober.

If his own doctor is willing to tell him that he is alcoholic, so much the better.

The tragic truth is that if the man be a real alcoholic, the happy day may not arrive.

When dealing with an alcoholic, there may be a natural annoyance that a man could be so weak, stupid and irresponsible.

To a person who has had experience with an alcoholic, this may seem like tempting Providence, but it isn't.

We seldom allow an alcoholic to live in our homes for long at a time.

In this statement he confirms what we who have suffered alcoholic torture must believe -- that the body of the alcoholic is quite as abnormal as his mind.

That alcoholic turned out to be the Akron physician.

If he is lukewarm or thinks he is not an alcoholic, we suggest you leave him alone.

An alcoholic who cannot meet them, still has an alcoholic mind; there is something the matter with his spiritual status.

Many an alcoholic who entered there came away with an answer.

The only thing that matters is that he is an alcoholic who has found a key to sobriety.

Almost from the beginning, we have been positive that face-to-face work with the alcoholic who suffers could be based only on the desire to help and be helped.

If you are an alcoholic who wants to get over it, you may already be asking -- "What do I have to do?"

We would like it understood that our alcoholic work is an avocation.

If you are an alcoholic, you are a mighty sick man.

The 164 and More™ Book, eBook, and Web Site are all CONCORDANCES which display passages from the Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous, the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, and the A.A. Grapevine (A.A. Preamble only).  Sorting and rendering passages in the proprietary format of the 164 and More concordance does not in any way imply affiliation with or endorsement by either Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc., or the A.A. Grapevine, Inc.  Further A.A.W.S. Inc. and the A.A. Grapevine Inc. have no objection to the use of this material in the 164 and More concordance.

What does the Big Book say about the real alcoholic?

How does AA define alcoholism?

Where in the Big Book does it talk about the real alcoholic?

Who wrote me an alcoholic in the Big Book?