"We have found out that anybody who has trouble of any sort related to drinking may have the condition called "alcoholism."  This illness strikes without regard for age, creed, sex, intelligence, ethnic background, emotional health, occupation, family situation, stong constitution, eating habits, social or economic status, or general character.  It is not a question of how much or how you drink, or when, or why, but of how your drinking affects your life-- what happens when you drink.

Before we could recognize the illness in ourselves, we had to unload this tired old myth: It would be a sign of shameful weakness to admit that we couldn't handle the sauce any more (if we ever could).

Weakness?  Actually, it takes considerable courage to stare unblinkingly at the hard truth, sparing nothing, without glossing over anything, without excuses, and without kidding ourselves.  (It is unseemly to brag, but frankly, many of us think that at kidding ourselves we were world champions.)"