Alan Kaufman > Quotes

“Anytime you find another alcoholic standing in front of you,” he had said, “looking you in the eye and talking about sobriety, consider that God is there, speaking through him or her to you. Or anytime you’re sitting in a meeting, consider that God is there. For now, think of God as an acronym for ‘Group of Drunks.”
― Alan Kaufman, Drunken Angel: A Memoir

“It may seem strange, perhaps even socially archaic, but I strongly believe that people ought to reach out to each other in this way, neighbor to neighbor, stranger to stranger, because our failure to do so has warped the social fabric into one of conjoined loneliness and all its attached sufferings.”
― Alan Kaufman, Drunken Angel: A Memoir

“And when he refused to tell her he loved her after having sex, she broke all the dishes until her arms bled and the medics took her away. And he sat and blew Arabesques of smoke.”
― Alan Kaufman , Matches: A Novel

“And when he refused to tell her he loved her after sex, she broke all the dishes until her arms bled and the medics took her away. And he sat and blew Arabesques of smoke.”
― Alan Kaufman , Matches: A Novel

“The world is divided into normal people and us drunks. And you’re a drunk like me. You have a mental obsession combined with an allergy of the body. You’re allergic to alcohol and obsessed with it at the same time. The combination is fatal and unstoppable. Once booze hits your system, the jig’s up: you must drink. It’s not the normal drinkers who end up in the park, it’s not them who die in the gutter. It’s us, with a condition that is recognized by the American Medical Association as incurable, and Alan, it’s killing you.”
― Alan Kaufman, Drunken Angel: A Memoir

“It’s not your job to decide whether people should think you’re important or not, hey? Huh? What others think of us is none of our business. Maybe you’re more important than you give yourself credit for. This could be God’s way of showing you something you should know but don’t.”
― Alan Kaufman, Drunken Angel: A Memoir

“In many respects, recovery was, by nature, iconoclastic—a smashing of old and rigid ideas to allow for new life-giving perspectives.”
― Alan Kaufman, Drunken Angel: A Memoir

“The more sober you get, the more clearly you feel,”
― Alan Kaufman, Drunken Angel: A Memoir

“Words. Empty words. Sometimes I hate words. Sometimes they fail human experience. Sometimes words are a way to avoid the truth.”
― Alan Kaufman, Drunken Angel: A Memoir

“God didn’t get you sober to fuck you over.”
― Alan Kaufman, Drunken Angel: A Memoir

“A recovery old-timer had told me: “Time takes time. Don’t be in any rush to get this thing. Let it filter in slow. What’s the hurry?”
― Alan Kaufman, Drunken Angel: A Memoir

“Little Brother, what did I tell you to do when problems occur?” My mind raced. Couldn’t think of what it could be. “I don’t remember!” I snapped. And then I did. “Oh, yeah. You said when it gets hard, go to a meeting and things will get better.” “That’s right.” “But how will going to a meeting help with this?” “Little Brother, all we ask in recovery is that you keep an open mind and try what we suggest. So, here’s my suggestion: go to a meeting and see whether or not things get better.”
― Alan Kaufman, Drunken Angel: A Memoir