Addiction is a battle many face, often feeling isolated in their struggle. Words have the power to heal wounds, inspire hope, and remind us we’re not alone. Through the right quotes, we can find strength and understanding.
In this article, we’ve gathered some of the best quotes on addiction. These words aim to inspire, comfort, and push us toward recovery. Each quote carries a message of resilience, hope, and the possibility of a better tomorrow.
Inspirational Addiction Quotes
“Recovery is not for people who need it, it’s for people who want it.” — Unknown
“The only journey is the one within.” — Rainer Maria Rilke
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” — Japanese Proverb
“The only way out is through.” — Robert Frost
“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” — J.K. Rowling
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.” — Ambrose Redmoon
“You are not your addiction.” — Unknown
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.” — Rikki Rogers
“Addiction is a monster disguised as a friend.” — John Doe
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” — Nelson Mandela
“You have to believe in yourself when no one else does. That makes you a winner right there.” — Venus Williams
“Every day begins with an act of courage and hope: getting out of bed.” — Mason Cooley
“Addiction begins with the hope that something ‘out there’ can instantly fill up the emptiness inside.” — Jean Kilbourne
“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.” — Nido Qubein
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Out of difficulties grow miracles.” — Jean de La Bruyère
“Recovery is hard. Regret is harder.” — Brittany Burgunder
“I am not defined by my relapses, but by my decision to remain in recovery despite them.” — Unknown
“Healing is an art. It takes time, it takes practice, it takes love.” — Maza Dohta
“Hope is a powerful weapon, and one no one power on earth can deprive you of.” — Nelson Mandela
“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.” — J.P. Morgan
“The best way out is always through.” — Robert Frost
“Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.” — Lance Armstrong
“You can’t defeat the darkness by keeping it caged inside of you.” — Seth Adam Smith
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” — Robert Collier
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” — Confucius
“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” — George Eliot
“Recovery is about progression, not perfection.” — Unknown
“Addiction is the only prison where the locks are on the inside.” — Unknown
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” — Theodore Roosevelt
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow is our doubts of today.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
Celebrity Addiction Quotes
“Addiction is a symptom of not growing up. I know people think it’s a disease… If you have acquired it, you can beat it!” – Lucy Davies
“The road to recovery is not a highway, but a challenging journey through which one must navigate with care and persistence.” – Anonymous
“It is not the drugs that make a drug addict; it is the need to escape reality.” – Henning Mankell
“Getting sober is a radically creative act.” – Meredith Bell
“Addiction begins with the hope that something ‘out there’ can instantly fill up the emptiness inside.” – Jean Kilbourne
“Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol, morphine or idealism.” – C.G. Jung
“The only journey is the one within.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
“Addiction is an adaptation. It’s not you—it’s the cage you live in.” – Johann Hari
“Sometimes you can only find Heaven by slowly backing away from Hell.” – Carrie Fisher
“Addiction is a monster disguised as a lover.” – J.M. Varela
“People are not addicted to alcohol or drugs, they are addicted to escaping reality.” – Anonymous
“I’m not telling you it is going to be easy; I’m telling you it’s going to be worth it.” – Art Williams
“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” – J.K. Rowling
“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” – J.P. Morgan
“The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” – Samuel Johnson
“I understood, through rehab, things about creating characters. I understood how to create a semblance of an internal life.” – Samuel L. Jackson
“You are stronger than you think, braver than you believe, and smarter than you know.” – A.A. Milne
“I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories.” – Edgar Allan Poe
“The goal isn’t to be sober. The goal is to love yourself so much that you don’t have to drink.” – Anonymous
“An overindulgence of anything, even something as pure as water, can intoxicate.” – Criss Jami
“Courage isn’t having the strength to go on—it is going on when you don’t have strength.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
“Recovery is not a race. You don’t have to feel guilty if it takes you longer than you thought it would.” – Anonymous
“You can’t defeat the darkness by keeping it caged inside of you.” – Seth Adam Smith
“People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them.” – Anonymous
“It’s okay to be a glow stick: Sometimes we need to break before we shine.” – Anonymous
“I am not defined by my relapses, but by my decision to remain in recovery despite them.” – Anonymous
“Addiction is like a thief in the night. It begins by robbing you of your joy, then it steals your spirit, and it steals your soul.” – Anonymous
“The hardest thing about recovery is not finding the light but figuring out how to navigate in your own darkness.” – Anonymous
“Addiction: the disease that makes you too selfish to see the havoc you created or care about the people whose lives you shattered.” – Anonymous
“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” – Robert Collier
“Recovery is something that you have to work on every single day and it’s something that doesn’t get a day off.” – Demi Lovato
“Once you choose hope, anything’s possible.” – Christopher Reeve
“You are not alone in your battle with addiction, countless others have walked the path to recovery and so can you.” – Anonymous
Recovery Journey Quotes
“The only journey is the one within.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
“Recovery is an acceptance that your life is in shambles and you have to change it.” – Jamie Lee Curtis
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela
“Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.” – Hippocrates
“Sometimes you have to get knocked down lower than you have ever been to stand up taller than you ever were.” – Unknown
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“Your recovery is an inspiration to others.” – Chris Herren
“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein
“The only way out is through.” – Robert Frost
“The comeback is always stronger than the setback.” – Unknown
“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” – J.K. Rowling
“Courage is not having the strength to go on; it is going on when you don’t have the strength.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” – C.S. Lewis
“Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Confucius
“You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it.” – Margaret Thatcher
“Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” – Oscar Wilde
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
“Recovery is hard. Regret is harder.” – Brittany Burgunder
“There is no shame in beginning again, for you get a chance to build bigger and better than before.” – Unknown
“Recovery is not one and done. It is a lifelong journey that takes place one day, one step at a time.” – Unknown
“Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.” – Rikki Rogers
“Sometimes we motivate ourselves by thinking of what we want to become. Sometimes we motivate ourselves by thinking about who we don’t ever want to be again.” – Shane Niemeyer
“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” – C.S. Lewis
“It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.” – Edmund Hillary
“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” – J.P. Morgan
“Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.” – Zig Ziglar
“You don’t have to be perfect; you just have to be better than you were yesterday.” – Unknown
“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” – Albert Einstein
“The future depends on what you do today.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“One of the hardest things was learning that I was worth recovery.” – Demi Lovato
“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.” – Nido Qubein
“Recovery is about progression, not perfection.” – Unknown
Spiritual Quotes on Addiction
“You do not just wake up and become the butterfly. Growth is a process.” – Rupi Kaur
“Addiction is the only prison where the locks are on the inside.” – Anonymous
“The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and the acceptance of love.” – Marianne Williamson
“Every moment of resistance to temptation is a victory.” – Frederick William Faber
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” – Albert Einstein
“We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.” – Kenji Miyazawa
“When you stand and share your story in an empowering way, your story will heal you and your story will heal somebody else.” – Iyanla Vanzant
“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.” – Khalil Gibran
“Recovery is something you have to work on every single day, and it’s something that it doesn’t get a day off.” – Demi Lovato
“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” – Nelson Mandela
“There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” – Leonard Cohen
“In the process of letting go, you will lose many things from the past, but you will find yourself.” – Deepak Chopra
“The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it… I can resist everything but temptation.” – Oscar Wilde
“Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.” – Roger Crawford
“Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls our lives.” – Akshay Dubey
“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” – J.P. Morgan
“There is no shame in beginning again, for you get a chance to build bigger and better than before.” – Anonymous
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” – Albert Einstein
“The opposite of addiction is not sobriety. The opposite of addiction is connection.” – Johann Hari
“The soul always knows what to do to heal itself. The challenge is to silence the mind.” – Caroline Myss
“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go; they merely determine where you start.” – Nido Qubein
“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” – J.K. Rowling
“You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.” – Buddha
“Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us.” – David Richo
“No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible.” – George Chakiris
“Life is like a camera. Focus on what’s important. Capture the good times. And if things don’t work out, just take another shot.” – Ziad K. Abdelnour
“Recovery is not a race. You don’t have to feel guilty if it takes you longer than you thought it would.” – Anonymous
“Remember that just because you hit bottom doesn’t mean you have to stay there.” – Robert Downey Jr.
“Spirituality is not adopting more beliefs and assumptions but uncovering the best in you.” – Amit Ray
“Don’t let the past steal your present.” – Terri Guillemets
“If you can quit for a day, you can quit for a lifetime.” – Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Family and Addiction Quotes
“Addiction begins with the hope that something ‘out there’ can instantly fill up the emptiness inside.” — Jean Kilbourne
“Family is the compass that guides us; they are the inspiration to reach great heights, and our comfort when we occasionally falter.” — Brad Henry
“We cannot choose our family, but we can choose how we heal from what they may bring into our lives.” — Unknown
“Addiction doesn’t hurt you nearly as much as it hurts those who love you because they can’t save you.” — Unknown
“Families are like branches on a tree. We grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one.” — Unknown
“Every family has its own addiction and dysfunction, but love is what holds us together.” — Unknown
“Addiction is a family disease. One person may use, but the whole family suffers.” — Unknown
“The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other’s life.” — Richard Bach
“When the family is strong, they can weather any storm, even the storm of addiction.” — Unknown
“In the midst of addiction, let your family be your beacon of hope and support.” — Unknown
“I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” — Stephen Covey
“Addiction is a monster that can destroy families, but family is also the hero that can conquer it.” — Unknown
“The chains of addiction are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” — Samuel Johnson
“Behind every addict, there’s a family waiting to be healed.” — Unknown
“Life is a journey, and with family by your side, even addiction can be fought and won.” — Unknown
“Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.” — David Ogden Stiers
“Addiction is a battle that touches every member of the family, but it’s also a journey they can take together towards recovery.” — Unknown
“Being a family means you are a part of something very wonderful. It means you will love and be loved for the rest of your life.” — Lisa Weed
“The greatest gift the family can give to a member struggling with addiction is unwavering support and unconditional love.” — Unknown
“When you look at your life, the greatest happiness is family happiness.” — Joyce Brothers
“Love is the thread that binds us, even when addiction attempts to tear us apart.” — Unknown
“Our wounds are often the openings into the best and most beautiful part of us.” — David Richo
“Addiction brings the family to its knees, but love lifts it back up.” — Unknown
“Strength of family is measured by the depth of their love for each other in the face of adversity.” — Unknown
“The family that faces addiction together, grows stronger together.” — Unknown
“Family is not an important thing, it’s everything.” — Michael J. Fox
“The love of a family is life’s greatest blessing, a light that shines through even the darkest times of addiction.” — Unknown
“Out of difficulties grow miracles.” — Jean de La Bruyère
“In the heart of addiction, the love and support of family can act as the strongest anchor.” — Unknown
“Family is like music; some high notes, some low notes, but always a beautiful song.” — Unknown
“Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It means the damage no longer controls our lives.” — Akshay Dubey
“The family that prays together stays together, even in the face of addiction.” — Unknown
Quotes about Overcoming Addiction
“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny.” – C.S. Lewis
“The only way out is through.” – Robert Frost
“Recovery is an acceptance that your life is in shambles and you have to change it.” – Jamie Lee Curtis
“Addiction is a battle that can be won, and every small victory leads to strength and hope.” – Anonymous
“Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. The goal is to find it.” – Buddha
“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” – Carl Bard
“You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.” – Martin Luther King Jr.
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.” – Peter Drucker
“Recovery is about progression, not perfection.” – Anonymous
“In the midst of winter, I found there was within me an invincible summer.” – Albert Camus
“You are not the darkness you endured. You are the light that refused to surrender.” – John Mark Green
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“Freedom is what we do with what is done to us.” – Jean-Paul Sartre
“One small crack does not mean you are broken, it means that you were put to the test and you didn’t fall apart.” – Linda Poindexter
“I understood myself only after I destroyed myself. And only in the process of fixing myself, did I know who I really was.” – Sade Andria Zabala
“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain.” – Vivian Greene
“The strongest people are not those who show strength in front of us but those who win battles we know nothing about.” – Anonymous
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb
“Addiction doesn’t have to be the end. It can be the beginning of a journey to a stronger version of yourself.” – Original
“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” – Randy Pausch
“I am not what happened to me; I am what I choose to become.” – Carl Jung
“It’s not the load that breaks you down, it’s the way you carry it.” – Lou Holtz
“Hope is a powerful thing. It can turn a bad day into a good one, and it can transform a life.” – Original
“Turn your wounds into wisdom.” – Oprah Winfrey
“The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it.” – C.C. Scott
“The only journey is the one within.” – Rainer Maria Rilke
“The best view comes after the hardest climb.” – Anonymous
“Recovery is hard. Regret is harder.” – Brittany Burgunder
“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
“Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you’re going to do now and do it.” – William Durant
“Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” – J.K. Rowling
“When everything seems like an uphill struggle, just think of the view from the top.” – Anonymous
Truthful Addiction Quotes
“Addiction begins with the hope that something ‘out there’ can instantly fill up the emptiness inside.” – Jean Kilbourne
“Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.” – Carl Jung
“We are addicted to our thoughts. We cannot change anything if we cannot change our thinking.” – Santosh Kalwar
“Addiction: the only disease that makes you angry when you suggest that you have it.” – Anonymous
“First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, then the drink takes you.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Addiction is a monster that lives inside us all, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.” – Anonymous
“I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason.” – Edgar Allan Poe
“Addiction is the only prison where the locks are on the inside.” – Unknown
“One of the hardest things was learning that I was worth recovery.” – Demi Lovato
“Every addiction arises from an unconscious refusal to face and move through one’s own pain.” – Eckhart Tolle
“People become attached to their burdens sometimes more than the burdens are attached to them.” – George Bernard Shaw
“An over-indulgence of anything, even something as pure as water, can intoxicate.” – Criss Jami
“Recovery is something that you have to work on every single day and it’s something that it doesn’t get a day off.” – Demi Lovato
“Addiction is a hiding place where we go when we fear the world.” – Anonymous
“You can get the monkey off your back, but the circus never leaves town.” – Anne Lamott
“Addiction makes you blind to the beauty of the world and makes you deaf to the love surrounding you.” – Anonymous
“Sobriety is a journey, not a destination.” – Anonymous
“It is hard to understand addiction unless you have experienced it.” – Ken Hensley
“Recovery is not a race. You don’t have to feel guilty if it takes you longer than you thought it would.” – Anonymous
“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.” – Anne Lamott
“It takes a lot of strength to pull oneself out of an addiction, but it takes even more to stay out.” – Anonymous
“You can’t defeat the demons you enjoy playing with.” – Anonymously shared on social media
“Fall seven times, stand up eight.” – Japanese Proverb
“The opposite of addiction is not sobriety, it is connection.” – Johann Hari
“One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks.” – Jack Penn
“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one.” – Elbert Hubbard
“Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.” – Mahatma Gandhi
“some of your greatest pains become your greatest strengths.” – Drew Barrymore
“The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” – J.P. Morgan
“Recovery is an acceptance that your life is in shambles and you have to change it.” – Jamie Lee Curtis
“Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
“One of the hardest things to do when you’re an addict, unwell, or suffering is to not feel ashamed of yourself.” – Russell Brand
“Addiction is a battle that must be won each day.” – Original Quote
“The chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.” – Warren Buffett
Love and Addiction Quotes
“Love is a drug, and you are my addiction.” – Unknown
“Addiction, when we look at it through the lens of love, is sometimes just the manifestation of an unquenchable thirst for connection.” – Anonymous
“Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol, morphine or idealism.” – Carl Jung
“Love ceases to be a pleasure when it ceases to be a secret.” – Aphra Behn
“I think addiction is often the result of a deep, unmet need to love and be loved.” – Original
“Romantic love is an addiction. That’s why I put the word ‘addiction’ in my book title.” – Helen Fisher
“Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye.” – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
“The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing.” – Blaise Pascal
“Addiction is the only prison where the locks are on the inside.” – Unknown
“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” – David Viscott
“The only way out of the labyrinth of suffering is to forgive.” – John Green
“Addiction and love are two riddles that are difficult to solve, yet they entwine so beautifully in the journey of the soul.” – Original
“We accept the love we think we deserve.” – Stephen Chbosky
“Addiction is just a way of trying to get at something else. Something bigger. Call it transcendence if you want, but it’s a rat in a maze.” – Nic Sheff
“Love me or hate me, both are in my favor. If you love me, I’ll always be in your heart. If you hate me, I’ll always be in your mind.” – William Shakespeare
“The more one judges, the less one loves.” – Honoré de Balzac
“You can never get enough of what you don’t need, because what you don’t need won’t satisfy.” – Dallin H. Oaks
“Addiction is a monster with many faces and love can be the most insidious of all.” – Original
“Love is an endless act of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.” – Maya Angelou
“Addiction makes love a game of Russian roulette with more than one loaded chamber.” – Original
“The pain of parting is nothing to the joy of meeting again.” – Charles Dickens
“Addictions… keep us from knowing and loving ourselves at the deepest level. They keep us from truly rendering ourselves to the ones we love.” – Bell Hooks
“Love is the hardest habit to break, and the most difficult to satisfy.” – Drew Barrymore
“I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.” – Mother Teresa
“Love is the only thing that will save us, independent of any mistakes we may make.” – Original
“Addiction begins with the hope that something ‘out there’ can instantly fill up the emptiness inside.” – Jean Kilbourne
“To love is to burn, to be on fire.” – Jane Austen
“Maybe getting over someone you’re in love with isn’t impossible. Maybe it’s just really hard because the act of loving someone else is an addiction in itself.” – Unknown
“Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by imagination.” – Voltaire
“the longest and most enduring addiction might just be to the simple breath of love.” – Original
“Love is not the opposite of addiction; love is the answer to addiction.” – Unknown
“I love you as certain dark things are to be loved, in secret, between the shadow and the soul.” – Pablo Neruda
The Bottom Line
These addiction quotes offer powerful reminders that recovery is possible and worth the effort. They highlight the struggles and triumphs faced by those battling addiction. Each quote brings a unique perspective, encouraging hope and perseverance.
Whether you’re seeking motivation, understanding, or comfort, these quotes can serve as valuable tools. They help shine a light on the path to a healthier life. By reading and reflecting on these words, anyone affected by addiction can find a sense of support and inspiration.
