Back To The Big Book

 "I must keep calm and unmoved in the vicissitudes of life.  I must go back into the silence of communion with God to recover this calm when it is lost even for one moment.  I will accomplish more by this calmness than by all the activities of a long day.  At all cost I will keep calm.  I can solve nothing when I am agitated.  I should keep away from things that are upsetting emotionally."

I should try to remember this when I'm tempted to read the news.

"The delusion that we are like other people, or presently may be, has to be smashed.  The alcoholic is absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge."

I should try to remember this whenever I think I'm too smart which is all the time.  I like the use of the words "absolutely" (utterly, positively, wholly) and "smashed" (to break violently; to hit extremely hard) in this passage.

"So far as alcohol is concerned, self-confidence is no good whatever."

I should try to remember this whenever I'm too certain about my abilities to manage life and navigate this world.  Some self-confidence is good but not where alcohol or drugs is concerned.  I'm toast in those areas.

"We alcoholics have lost the ability to control our drinking.  We know that no alcoholic ever recovers control."

I should try to remember this whenever . . . well, I should try to remember this all the time.  I like the use (and the underlining for added emphasis) of the word "ever" which, when combined with "no" means  "never" (at no time; on no occasion; under no circumstance).

"The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker.  The persistence of this illusion is astonishing.  Many pursue it into the gates of insanity or death."

The brutality of those sentences need no interpretation.  Note the words "obsession," "abnormal," " insanity," and "death."  These are not good words.  These words do not convey positivity.  They are meant to smash you in the face.  These words head off any argument.  They state our position with zero nuance.  Drink if you will.  Drink if you must.  But you will never drink normally ever again.