“How did people have conversations anyway? How did they meet and then begin to talk as if they had known each other for years?”

“Identifying, they said, was trying to see how I was like the people I was with. Comparing, they told me, was looking for differences, usually seeing how I was better than others.”

“To this day, I am amazed at how many of my problems - most of which had nothing to do with drinking, I believed - have become manageable or have simply disappeared since I quit drinking.”

“I have found that the process of discovering who I really am begins with knowing who I really don't want to be.”

“Through the years I had quit on everything that ever mattered: college, going for promotions, relationships - at least the relationships that demanded any work.”

“...one of the primary differences between alcoholics and nonalcoholics is that nonalcoholics change their behavior to meet their goals and alcoholics change their goals to meet their behaviors.”

“It will take time to clear away the wreck. Though old buildings will eventually be replaced by finer ones, the new structures will take years to complete.”