The desire to alter consciousness is as old as consciousness itself"
-- Leslie Jamison (chapter 4)

Importance: This quote is significant because it speaks to the way in which addiction is a continuum, and all humans live on its axis somewhere. Jamison resists the notion that there is something "wrong" with addicts or alcoholics. She captures the complexity of human existence and demonstrates how there are a variety of ways in which humans have tried to escape the solitary experience of consciousness. To desire is human. Whether we are coke addicts, nicotine-obsessed, or alcoholics, the craving still comes from the same place--to escape.

Addiction is just the same fucking thing over and over again"
-- Leslie Jamison (chapter 13)

Importance: This quote is important because it pushes against the common assumption that addiction is synonymous with greater production and variability. It speaks to one of the arguments that Jamison is trying to prove: that addiction is not power, but powerlessness. It is...