"The cask must be sealed, it must be made fast: It must not leak by day nor night, in the light, nor in the dark.”

Okanicon  Delaware

 
This phenomenon, as we have suggested, may be the manifestation of an allergy which differentiates these people, and sets them apart as a distinct entity. It has never been, by any treatment with which we are familiar, permanently eradicated. The only relief is entire abstinence.

The Doctor's Opinion   Big Book  pg. xxviii

 
We know that while the alcoholic keeps away from drink, as he may do for months or years, he reacts much like other men. We are equally positive that once he takes any alcohol whatever into his system, something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense, which makes it virtually impossible for him to stop. The experience of any alcoholic will abundantly confirm this.

 Big Book  pgs. 22 & 23

We have seen the truth demonstrated again and again: "Once an alcoholic always an alcoholic." Commencing to drink after a period of sobriety, we are in a short time as bad as ever. If we are planning to stop drinking, there must be no reservation of any kind, nor any lurking notion that someday we will be immune to alcohol.

Big Book pg. 33

Great Spirit let me remember being sober must come first today, that I am no good if I am drunk.