Addiction quotes
635 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.
"Prisons do not disappear social problems, they disappear human beings. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the human beings contending with them are relegated to cages."
"Man cannot live without joy; therefore when he is deprived of true spiritual joys it is necessary that he become addicted to carnal pleasures."
"We must learn our limits. We are all something, but none of us are everything."
"People try so hard to let go of their negative behaviors and thoughts, and it doesn't work, or it works only for a short time. I didn't let go of my negative thoughts; I questioned them, and then they let go of me, and so did my addictions and depression."
"We live in a world where most people still subscribe to the belief that shame is a good tool for keeping people in line. Not only is this wrong, but it’s dangerous. Shame is highly correlated with addiction, violence, aggression, depression, eating disorders, and bullying."
Explore further
Browse quotes that often appear alongside addiction — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.
Quote collection
Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.
"I have a bit of a traveling addiction, and, ah, yeah. I went to, ah, Bali this summer."
"When it snows in your nose, you catch cold in your brain."
"I dwell in possibility."
"What is addiction, really? It is a sign, a signal, a symptom of distress. It is a language that tells us about a plight that must be understood."
"Addiction is perhaps a sickness of the spirit."
"When you smoke the herb, it reveals you to yourself."
"Begin at once to live, and count each day as a separate life."
"To be alive is to be addicted, and to be alive and addicted is to stand in need of grace."
"You do anything long enough to escape the habit of living until the escape becomes the habit."
"I don't drink these days. I am allergic to alcohol and narcotics. I break out in handcuffs."
"Your life is the fruit of your own doing. You have no one to blame but yourself."
"You become what you behold."
"Knowledge is an addiction, as drink; knowledge does not bring understanding. Knowledge can be taught, but not wisdom; there must be freedom from knowledge for the coming of wisdom."
"I don't want Christmas season to end, because it's the only time I can legitimately indulge in on particular addiction: glitter."
"It is not heroin or cocaine that makes one an addict, it is the need to escape from a harsh reality."
"The abuse of food, alcohol, or drugs is essentially a material response to a need that isn't really physical at its foundation.. What we are looking for is pure joy rather than mere sensation, or even oblivion of sensation. Addiction is unrecognized spiritual craving."
"Every addiction arises from an unconscious refusal to face and move through your own pain. Every addiction starts with pain and ends with pain. Whatever the substance you are addicted to - alcohol, food, legal or illegal drugs, or a person - you are using something or somebody to cover up your pain."
"Anybody can do anything that he imagines."
"[T]he truth is that drug addicts have a disease. It only takes a short time in the streets to realize that out-of-control addiction is a medical problem, not a form of recreational or criminal behavior. And the more society treats drug addiction as a crime, the more money drug dealers will make "relieving" the suffering of the addicts."
"Each day the world is born anew for him who takes it rightly."
