Wine?" said Zoe. "At two in the afternoon?"" I've decided to become an alcoholic. Just for the duration of my middle years." She filled a glass and rested it on the edge of the bathroom sink. "That's yours.

— Mo Hayder

With the smell of beer I try to get the smell of death off me. And only the smell of death will get the smell of beer off you, like all the drinkers whose graves I have to dig.

— Italo Calvino

Worrying about parents is a waste of time. It’s your life. Let’s have a martini.

— Megan Mayhew Bergman

Write when drunk. Edit when sober. Market it with the persistence of a drug peddler.

— Ashwin Sanghi

Yesterday it was sun outside. The sky was blue and people were lying under blooming cherry trees in the park. It was Friday, so records were released, that people have been working on for years. Friends around me find success and level up, do fancy photo shoots and get featured on big, white, movie screens. There were parties and lovers, hand in hand, laughing perfectly loud, but I walked numbly through the park, round and round, 40 times for 4 hours just wanting to make it through the day. There's a weight that inhabits my chest sometimes. Like a lock in my throat, making it hard to breathe. A little less air got through and the sky was so blue I couldn’t look at it because it made me sad, swelling tears in my eyes, and they dripped quietly on the floor as I got on with my day. I tried to keep my focus, ticked off the to-do list, did my chores. Packed orders, wrote emails, paid bills and rewrote stories, but the panic kept growing, exploding in my chest. Tears falling on the desk tick tick tickle not making a sound and some days I just don't know what to do. Where to go or who to see, and I try to be gentle, soft and kind, but anxiety eats you up, and I just want to be fine. This is not beautiful. This is not useful. You can not do anything with it, and it tries to control you, throw you off your balance and lovely ways but you can not let it. I cleaned up. Took myself for a walk. Tried to keep my eyes on the sky. Stayed away from the alcohol, stayed away from the destructive tools we learn to use. The smoking and the starving, the running, the madness, thinking it will help, but it only feeds the fire and I don't want to hurt myself anymore. I made it through, and today I woke up, lighter and proud because I'm still here. There are flowers growing outside my window. The coffee is warm, the air is pure. In a few hours I'll be on a train on my way to sing for people who invited me to come, to sing, for them. My own songs, that I created. Me—little me. From nowhere at all. And I have people around that I like and can laugh with, and it's spring again. It will always be spring again. And there will always be a new day.

— Charlotte Eriksson

You always miss 100% of the shots you don't order

— Josh Stern

You are dehydrated," I said. "The result of alcohol taken in excess. But that is the only way to take it. It is the only way to do a man any good.

— Robert Penn Warren

You are giving up nothing! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

— Liz Hemingway

You know that movie, where the little boy says 'I see dead people'? The Sixth Sense. Well, I see them all the time, and I'm getting tired of it. That's what's ruined my mood. Here it is, almost Christmas, and I didn't even think about putting up a tree, because I'm still seeing the autopsy lab in my head. I'm still smelling it on my hands. I come home on a day like this, after two postmortems, and I can't think about cooking dinner. Furthermore, I can't even look at a piece of meat without thinking of muscle fibers. All I can deal with is a cocktail. And then I pour the drink and smell the alcohol, and suddenly there I am, back in the lab. Alcohol, formalin, they both have that same sharp smell.

— Tess Gerritsen

You need to relax. Maybe we should stop at a bar for alcohol first."" For me or for them?"" For them, of course. It's important to get them loaded early in the day. Makes them easier to control.

— Jaci Burton