60 Sobriety Quotes About Recovery and Addiction

If you are recovering from addiction, or know someone who is, then these sobriety quotes will help you draw some inspiration, know what to say to your loved ones, and some might even make you laugh.

Recovery is hard; being the loved one of an addict is also difficult, but hopefully, these words will make it just a little easier for you.

The first part of getting sober, or helping someone else be sober, is understanding what sobriety is. Sobriety is defined as the state of not being intoxicated. Sobriety typically refers to a person’s decision to abstain from substance use. This decision often comes about because of an addiction that is negatively affecting their lives.

Do sobriety quotes actually help aid in addiction recovery? Well, like everything else, they are just another tool you can use. They aren’t a magical answer, but they can help motivate you, and help you realize you are not alone.

Grab a few Post-It notes and write some of your favorites down as you read through these sobriety quotes.

Don’t forget to also check out these recovery and addiction quotes to help you heal.

Inspirational sobriety quotes

1. “Sobriety is wealth.” ― Petra Hermans

2. “Getting sober is a radically creative act.” ― Meredith Bell, A Sober Year: Daily Musings on an Alcohol-Free Life

3. “Recovery is an acceptance that your life is in shambles, and you have to change it.” — James Lee Curtis

4. “There are women succeeding beyond their wildest dreams because of their sobriety.” ― Mary Karr

5. “… being sober delivered almost everything drinking promised.” ― Anne Lamott, Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy

6. “We must desperately desire recovery with the same passion with which we pursue drugs.” — Mary Cook

7. “Your addiction is not your identity, but you won’t know that until you’re in recovery; that’s when the two separate.” ― Toni Sorenson

8. “The initial journey towards sobriety is a delicate balance between insight into one’s desire for escape and abstinence from one’s addiction.” ― Debra L. Kaplan

9. “Think of recovery as Double D’s: deciding and doing. Deciding to recover is only a mindset. Doing the recovery is the real miracle.” ― Toni Sorenson

10. “Somebody once asked me how I define sobriety, and my response was ‘liberation from dependence’.” — Leslie Jamison, The Gin Closet

Helpful sobriety quotes for friends and loved ones

11. “When you enable the addict, you nourish the disease.” ― Toni Sorenson

12. “A compassionate approach leads to less addiction.” ― Johann Hari

13. “Your best days are ahead of you. The movie starts when the guy gets sober and puts his life back together; it doesn’t end there.” ― Bucky Sinister

14. “In my experience, and in the experience of most people I have talked with, the family’s recovery often coincides with or precedes the recovery of the addicted individual.” — Beverly Conyers

15. “When I got sober, I thought giving up was saying goodbye to all the fun and all the sparkle, and it turned out to be just the opposite. That’s when the sparkle started for me.” — Mary Karr

16. “Above anything else—above family or job—the main thing is staying sober. That’s because without being sober, I don’t have a family or a job.” — William Regal

17. “We’re all looking at the people around us, the people who have gone before us who have succeeded in recovery and have long-term sobriety and they are an illustration for us of how good it can be.” — Scott Stevens

18. “You need to be bold enough and strong enough to let your loved one’s recovery unfold or not unfold as it is meant to, not as you want it to.” — Carole Bennett

19. “With boundaries, it comes down to this, that you don’t support the illness, you support recovery.” — Christopher Kennedy Lawford

20. “Recovery is an ongoing process, for both the addict and his or her family. In recovery there is hope. And hope is a wonderful thing.” — Dean Dauphinais

Funny sobriety quotes

21. “Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it a hundred times.” — Mark Twain

22. “There is nothing wrong with sobriety in moderation.” ― John Ciardi

23. “Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunk Christian.” ― Herman Melville, Moby-Dick or, the Whale

24. “They say getting sober in AA is simple, but not easy. Just like winning the lottery, I guess.” ― Dmitry Dyatlov

25. “Kid, sobriety’s like a hard-on; the minute you get it, you want to f*** with it.” ― David Foster Wallace

26. “Always do sober what you said you’d do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut.” ― Ernest Hemingway

27. “I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly.” ― Winston Churchill

28. “I was glad to be sober, but after ninety days, people weren’t patting me on the back anymore, sayin’, ‘Good job on the sobriety! Go get ’em!’” ― Chris Farley

29. “I think sober is the new black. That’s the cool thing now. I’m trying to make it the cool thing.” ― Ronnie Radke

30. “Being sober on a bus is, like, totally different than being drunk on a bus.” ― Ozzy Osbourne

Sobriety quotes from celebrities

31. “Sobriety was the best gift I ever gave myself.” — Rob Lowe

32. “Not drinking makes me a lot happier.” ― Naomi Campbell

33. “Sometimes you can only find heaven by slowly backing away from hell.” — Carrie Fisher

34. “The thing is, if I don’t have sobriety, I don’t have anything.” ― Matthew Perry

35. “Ya think that the whiskey tastes good? Try a big cup of sobriety—now that is the good stuff!” ― Steven Tyler

36. “Recovery is something you have to work on every single day, and it’s something that doesn’t get a day off.” — Demi Lovato

37. “I have other obligations now—the show, my family, my life… though I know that without my sobriety I wouldn’t have any of those things.” ― Rob Lowe

38. “Getting sober just exploded my life. Now I have a much clearer sense of myself and what I can and can’t do. I am more successful than I have ever been.” ― Jamie Lee Curtis

39. “Don’t pick up a drink or drug, one day at a time. It sounds so simple. It actually is simple, but it isn’t easy—it requires incredible support and fastidious structuring.” ― Russell Brand

40. “I believe this: We have only today; yesterday’s gone and tomorrow is uncertain. That’s why they call it the present. And sobriety is a gift… for those who are willing to receive it.” ― Ace Frehley, No Regrets: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Memoir

Anonymous sobriety quotes and sayings

41. “If you like everyone in AA, you’re not going to enough meetings!” — Unknown

42. “It’s a beautiful day to be sober.” — Unknown

43. “An alcoholic without a sponsor is like leaving Dracula in charge of the blood bank.” — Unknown

44. “Recovery is about progression, not perfection.” — Unknown

45. “Most alcoholics would rather die than learn anything about themselves. In fact, they do.” — Unknown

46. “I didn’t even know I was addicted until I tried to stop.” — Unknown

47. “Waking up clean and sober is the first gift of every day.” — Unknown

48. “Recovery didn’t open the gates of heaven and let me in. Recovery opened the gates of hell and let me out.” — Unknown

49. “The goal isn’t to be sober. The goal is to love yourself so much that you don’t have to drink.” — Unknown

50. “You don’t get over an addiction by stopping using. You recover by creating a new life where it is easier to not use. If you don’t create a new life, then all the factors that brought you to your addiction will catch up with you again.” — Unknown

Sobriety quotes to guide you through recovery

51. “Strength of mind rests in sobriety; for this keeps your reason unclouded by passion.” — Pythagoras

52. “Sobriety was the greatest gift I ever gave myself.” — Rob Lowe

53. “Change happens when the pain of holding on becomes greater than the fear of letting go.” — Spencer Johnson 

54. “You know, a lot of people feel that sobriety is about just stopping using whatever it was that you appeared to be addicted to, but it really has to do with a way of looking at your life and taking accountability.” — Bonnie Raitt

55. “There is no better high than discovery.” ― E. O. Wilson

56. “My mind may be sober, but my confidence is high!” ― Habeeb Akande

57. “Drunkards have a problem, not with sobriety, but with reality.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

58. “We don’t choose to become addicts but we do let addition choose us.” ― Toni Sorenson

59. “The road to sobriety is not easy and rehabilitation and the recovery process are not to be taken lightly.” — Drew Pinsky

60. I can’t emphasize enough how grateful I am to have come upon sobriety. — Naveen Andrews

The path to sobriety is challenging

You will feel things like worry, struggle, boredom, anger, and even grief on your journey to recovery. Conversely, there will be moments and periods of joy, contentment, relief, and gratitude.

These sobriety quotes will help you realize what an exquisite thing sobriety is. It is a feat to be celebrated and an accomplishment that you should be proud of. You might need a little encouragement for the moments that make you question if it is all worth it.

Having trusted friends or family, sponsors, or mental health professionals in your toolbox will be a big help. Remember that boundaries are essential, though. Just because someone is a member of your family does not automatically make them part of your support system.

You can check out these toxic relationships quotes if that is something that is contributing to your struggle with sobriety.

Did these motivational sobriety quotes help you reframe your thoughts? Were you able to find something you could use to help support a loved one? Let us know in the comment section below.

Also, if you are struggling with addiction right now, you can reach out to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.