David Sheff Quotes

• Anyone who has lived through it, or those who are now living through it, knows that caring about an addict is as complex and fraught and debilitating as addiction itself.

  David Sheff

  Caring, Addiction, Alcohol

  David Sheff (2009). “Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction”, p.13, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  57 Copy quote

• I didn't cause it. I can't control it. I can't cure it.

  David Sheff

  Causes, Cures, I Can

  24 Copy quote

• Once and for all, people must understand that addiction is a disease. It’s critical if we’re going to effectively prevent and treat addiction. Accepting that addiction is an illness will transform our approach to public policy, research, insurance, and criminality; it will change how we feel about addicts, and how they feel about themselves. There’s another essential reason why we must understand that addiction is an illness and not just bad behavior: We punish bad behavior. We treat illness.

  David Sheff

  People, Addiction, Essentials

  David Sheff (2013). “Clean: Overcoming Addiction and Ending America’s Greatest Tragedy”, p.88, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  28 Copy quote

• An alcoholic will steal your wallet and lie to you. A drug addict will steal your wallet and then help you look for it.

  David Sheff

  Lying, Drug, Looks

  David Sheff (2008). “Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction”, p.265, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  10 Copy quote

• How can both Nics, the loving and considerate and generous one, and the self-obsessed and self-destructive one, be the same person?

  David Sheff

  Self, Obsessed, Considerate

  David Sheff (2009). “Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction”, p.96, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  15 Copy quote

• At my worst, I even resented Nic because an addict, at least when high, has a momentary respite from his suffering. There is no similar relief for parents or children or husbands or wives or others who love them.

  David Sheff

  Children, Husband, Wife

  David Sheff (2009). “Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction”, p.13, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  17 Copy quote

• We deny the severity of our loved one's problem not because we are naive, but because we can't know.

  David Sheff

  Problem, Loved Ones, Deny

  David Sheff (2009). “Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction”, p.15, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  10 Copy quote

• If you subscribe to the idea that #‎ addiction is a disease, it is startling to see how many of these children - paranoid, anxious, bruised, tremulous, withered, in some cases psychotic - are seriously ill, slowly dying. We'd never allow such a scene if these kids had any other disease. They would be in a hospital, not on the streets.

  David Sheff

  Children, Kids, Ideas

  David Sheff (2009). “Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction”, p.142, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  46 Copy quote

• How innocent we are of our mistakes and how we responsible we are for them.

  David Sheff

  Mistake, Innocent, Responsible

  David Sheff (2009). “Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction”, p.302, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  9 Copy quote

• I am becoming used to an overwhelming, grinding mixture of anger and worry.

  David Sheff

  Worry, Mixtures, Becoming

  David Sheff (2009). “Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction”, p.100, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  6 Copy quote

• A world of contradictions, wherein everything is gray and almost nothing is black and white.

  David Sheff

  Black And White, World, Contradiction

  David Sheff (2009). “Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction”, p.311, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  13 Copy quote

• This stigma associated with drug use--the belief that bad kids use, good kids don't, and those with full-blown addiction are weak, dissolute, and pathetic--has contributed to the escalation of use and has hampered treatment more than any single other factor.

  David Sheff

  Kids, Drug Use, Addiction

  18 Copy quote

• Openness is the first step toward recovery... addiction remains a secret because of the overwhelming shame associated with it.

  David Sheff

  Recovery, Addiction, Secret

  7 Copy quote

• Wherever you be, wherever you may, seek the truth, strive for the beautiful, achieve the good.

  David Sheff

  Life, Beautiful, May

  David Sheff (2009). “Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction”, p.63, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  10 Copy quote

• Along with the joy of parenthood, with every child comes a piercing vulnerability. It is at once sublime and terrifying

  David Sheff

  Children, Joy, Sublime

  David Sheff (2009). “Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction”, p.65, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  8 Copy quote

• Why does it help to read others' stories? It is not only that misery loves company, because (I learned) misery is too self-absorbed to want much company. Others' experiences did help with my emotional struggle.

  David Sheff

  Struggle, Emotional, Self

  David Sheff (2009). “Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction”, p.11, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  12 Copy quote

• I'm not sure if I know any 'functional' families, if functional means a family without difficult times and members who don't have a full range of problems.

  David Sheff

  Mean, Difficult Times, Problem

  David Sheff (2009). “Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction”, p.14, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  12 Copy quote

• Through Nic's drug addiction, I have learned that parents can bear almost anything....I shock myself with my ability to rationalize and tolerate things once unthinkable. The rationalizations escalate....It's only marijuana. He gets high only on weekends. At least he's not using hard drugs.

  David Sheff

  Weekend, Marijuana, Addiction

  12 Copy quote

• When I transformed my random and raw words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, and paragraphs into chapters, a semblance of order and sanity appeared where there had been only chaos and insanity.

  David Sheff

  Order, Insanity, Chaos

  David Sheff (2009). “Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction”, p.13, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  25 Copy quote

• The hopeful part about that is when you do have that help, you will feel better. It still doesn't make this easy. Nothing makes this easy, but you can make better decisions.

  David Sheff

  Recovery, Feel Better, Hopeful

  "Clean: An Interview with David Sheff". Interview with Cathy Taughinbaugh, cathytaughinbaugh.com.

  11 Copy quote

• Here's a note to the parents of addicted children: Choose your music carefully...There are millions of treacherous moments.

  David Sheff

  Children, Parent, Moments

  5 Copy quote

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