“This is the baffling feature of alcoholism as we know it– this utter inability to leave it (alcohol) alone, no matter how great the necessity or the wish.”

“…certain nonalcoholic people who, though drinking foolishly and heavily… are able to stop or moderate, because their brains and bodies have not been damaged as ours were. But the actual or potential alcoholic, with hardly an exception, will be absolutely unable to stop drinking on the basis of self-knowledge.

"Then we have a certain type of hard drinker. He may have the habit badly enough to gradually impair him physically and mentally. It may cause him to die a few years before his time. If a sufficiently strong reason– ill health, falling in love, change of environment, or the warning of a doctor– becomes operative, this man can also stop or moderate, although he may find it difficult and troublesome and may even need medical attention.”

-The Big Book