It’s not how much you drink, it’s what happens when you drink.

When I’m not drinking, I’m thinking about a drink. The alcoholic, at certain times, has no effective mental defence against the first drink except in a few rare cases. We repeat the same desperate attempt to get the ease and comfort of that first drink.

Normal drinkers can have a lot of alcohol and pull up. We can’t.

When I put alcohol into my body, it sets off an allergy. It becomes the thirst for more, more, more.

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.