top of page

61 Quotes about Self-love, Recovery, and Proud Sobriety (With Images)

Updated: Mar 17, 2022

Motivational quotes are one of the greatest ways of inspiring us to continue the fight against the disease of addiction. A glance at a well-phrased truth can propel us forward after keeping us from falling. Here is a list of 61 inspirational quotes to help do that.

Sobriety Quotes Recovery Self Love

Developing an attitude of gratitude is one of the main effects of becoming sober.



We lost too much while we were drinking. We battled against those we loved and now our recovery helps prevent a recurrence.


Recovery Quotes


In the days of our drinking, we could not see the better person inside us and came to believe we were worthless. That is a view we need to change.


We are encouraged to neither regret the past, nor shut the door on it. We must remember but move on.



Being sober delivered almost everything drinking promised. -Anne Lamott

The positive changes that arise when we conquer alcohol addiction show how much better life can be.



We need to transcend the negative consequences of our substance abuse and learn how to shape a better person.

Recovery didn’t open the gates of heaven and let me in. Recovery opened the gates of hell and let me out!  -Anonymous

Addiction treatment is about rising from where we were and constantly reaching for higher.



It is humbling to admit mistakes, but they are the things that drive us in the right direction.


When we have a substance abuse disorder, we lose ourselves in the people we seem to be. It is not us.


Addiction, at its worst, is akin to having Stockholm Syndrome. You’re like a hostage who has developed an irrational affection for your captor. They can abuse you, torture you, even threaten to kill you, and you’ll remain inexplicably and disturbingly loyal.    -Anne Clendening

Unfortunately, alcohol does not experience the inverse Lima syndrome and care for us.



Self-love is not a feature of alcohol and drug abuse. Part of the real work in sobriety is learning to love ourselves.



One of the hardest things for an alcoholic is reclaiming the power they have. This is what the first step does.



This is what defines the recovery journey. The biggest fear is not failure, but not pushing back against failure.



Everything stems from who we are which is why the process of recovery improves us as human beings.


Everything that passes unattempted is impossible.  -Stephen Donaldson

The best thing we can do is try otherwise nothing will change.


What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.  -Zig Ziglar

That we are of good character is the most important thing that we can gain from any treatment options.


Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” (Vince Lombardi)

As the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous says, “We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines.” In this way we catch excellence.


The best way to predict your future is to create it.” Abraham Lincoln

This is the wonderful thing about the recovery process. It creates and redefines our futures.


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

Sobriety is, without doubt, the path to long-time happiness.


My identity shifted when I got into recovery. That’s who I am now, and it actually gives me greater pleasure to have that identity than to be a musician or anything else, because it keeps me in a manageable size . . . It gives me a spiritual anchor.  -Eric Clapton

The effect that ending alcohol abuse has and the changes at a personal level are immeasurable.


Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” Carl Bard

This is the truth of a sober journey. We get to define how the story ends.


Sometimes we motivate ourselves by thinking of what we want to become. Sometimes we motivate ourselves by thinking about who we don’t ever want to be again.

If we do not forget our past mistakes we allow ourselves to remember who we don’t want to become again.


What Progress, You Ask, Have I Made? I Have Begun To Be A Friend To Myself - Hecato

We need to befriend ourselves. Despite our efforts, this can be hard work.


I Dwell in Possibility

Our personal experience contains a plethora of possibilities. We need to choose the right path.



Experience Is Not What Happens To You, It Is What You Do With What Happens To You. Aldous Huxley

If we have a solid foundation, then we will choose the right reaction.



And Sobriety Really is a Gift... For Those Who Are Willing To Receive It -Ace Frewley

It really is this simple and this hard. Are we willing to receive it and make a fresh start? The choice is ours.



It Does Not Matter How Slowly You Go, As Long As You Do Not Stop -Confucius

You only need to go one day at a time for the rest of your life.



Recovery is Hard. Regret is Harder. Brittany Burgunder

The worst part for many is the regret we feel, but freedom from alcohol abuse is rising from rock bottom.



For a long time, a lot of people drank because they hated themselves. Loving who we become is key to changing that.



I'm Not Telling You It Is Going To Be Easy. I'm Telling You It's Going To Be Worth It! -Anonymous

Recovery is an ongoing process that can be hard at times, but the end result is beyond imagining.


My Addiction Does Not Define Who I Will Be! -Lisa Renee Barnes Lampros

This is a beautiful truth – we define ourselves.


Everything Can Be Taken From A Man But One Thing: The Last Of The Human Freedoms - To Choose One's Attitude In Any Given Set Of Circumstances to Choose One's Own Way - Viktor Frankl

In the end, the power of choice is what defines us.


Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. Viktor Frankl

A better life follows from our actions. It is a consequence.


Cause God makes no mistakes   - Lady Gaga

Even on our worst days, this is a truth that we can reject but not escape.


Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin, as self-neglecting. -William Shakespeare

Self-neglect is often a consequence of an absence of self-love.


We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” (William Shakespeare)

Our future is uncharted, but we hold the maps to find the right course.


We disappear entirely as our addictions worsen and become incapable of self-love because all we can love is the substance we abuse.


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.   -Anonymous

The recovering addict cannot stay sober without changes at a deeply personal level.


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

The best thing about a sober life is that it is a good life.


The thing is, if I don't have sobriety, I don't have anything.  -Matthew Perry

On a daily basis, sobriety is everything.



Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.

It is very important to be your own best friend.


Our abilities can separate us. Our choice to defy our alcohol problem unites us.


 Somebody once asked me how I define sobriety, and my response was ‘liberation from dependence’.   -Leslie Jamison

The worst day of sobriety exceeds the best days of drinking.


We must not emerge, exhausted and devastated. We need to rise strong, as victors over this mental health disorder.


Being in recovery has given me everything of value that I have in my life. Integrity, honesty, fearlessness, faith, a relationship with God, and most of all gratitude.  -Rob Lowe

These are just a few of the major changes that sobriety brings.


The beautiful truth about treatment programs is that we can get to establish good relationships with our family members again.


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

The alcoholic is far from the only person affected by their drinking. Alcoholism is a family disease and the family needs to heal too.


 Folks are usually about as happy as they make up their minds to be.   -Abraham Lincoln

At the end of the day, we need to accept that we are the only person who can be responsible for our happiness.


Every single day of drinking we numbed our pain and hurt those we professed to love.


The good news is hangovers become a thing of the past. Isn’t that glorious?

Today, As Every Day Of Sober Living, We Have A Choice

Remember that every single day we are sober, we are sober by choice.


The opposite of addiction is not sobriety, but human connection.

Our compulsive behavior when drinking kept us apart from others.


Nobody moves on without making a choice.


You must do the things you think you cannot do. -Eleanor Roosevelt

We need to alter our belief systems to include faith in what we can achieve.


I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. - William Henley

When we stop drinking, we take the helm in control of our future.



I’ve never met an alcoholic in recovery who doesn’t believe that this is the best thing they have ever done.   -Adam Clayton

There can never be any doubt that an alcohol-free life is the best thing we can do.


To transform the world, we must begin with ourselves; and what is important in beginning with ourselves is intention.

The same author said the ability to change ourselves was the only revolution that we should engage in.


All Men who live with any degree of serenity live by some assurance of grace. -Reinhold Niebuhr

The author of the serenity prayer defines the benefit of serenity.


Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.  -Henry Ford

The most important role for our spirits is to determine our view of whether we can achieve


Nobody stays recovered unless the life they have created is more rewarding and satisfying than the one they left behind.  -Anne Fletcher

When we become sober, for the first time in a very long time, life becomes worthwhile.


The real work going forward is dealing with challenges in a way that we avoided while drinking.