Is "it's the first drink that gets you drunk" in the Big Book?
In short:
- Not in those words. The saying isn't anywhere in our sources. Two members' stories come close: "I never knew it was the first drink that did it" (p. 292, fourth edition), and, in a story dropped from the Big Book in 2001, "No one had ever told me it was the first drink that did the damage" (Experience, Strength and Hope, 2003, story from an earlier edition). A 1980 history says Dr. Bob kept repeating, "The first one will get you."
- The idea is all through the 1939 program text. Once a real alcoholic takes any alcohol, "something happens, both in the bodily and mental sense," that makes it nearly impossible to stop (pp. 22–23). And "We are without defense against the first drink" (p. 24).
- The book puts its weight on the moment before the first drink: "the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body" (p. 23). The saying points at what the drink does. The book points at why he takes it, and says the defense "must come from a Higher Power" (p. 43).
What the search found
All our sources were searched for "first drink," "first one," "one drink," "one is too many" and the saying itself.
- The saying: not found.
- A personal story, "Fear of Fear" (Part II), about a woman whose husband also drank: "I never knew it was the first drink that did it" (p. 292).
- A dropped story, "Desperation Drinking," printed in earlier editions and taken out in 2001, now in Experience, Strength and Hope (2003). After nine sober months the writer took a drink at a party: "No one had ever told me it was the first drink that did the damage" (Experience, Strength and Hope, 2003, story from an earlier edition).
- Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers (1980): "Another thing Dr. Bob put quite simply: 'The first one will get you'" (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980). One member, John R., says Dr. Bob kept repeating it. A few lines earlier on the same page, a member who came in in 1942 says others are always repeating things Dr. Bob said "that I know he didn't" (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980), and the book adds that apart from "Let's keep it simple," it's hard to tell which sayings are really his. The line comes up again later, in a member's own words: Jud O., who drank in 1969 one week before his thirtieth anniversary, says that however long you don't drink, the next one is close, "It never lets you go," and that Dr. Bob was right (Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers, 1980).
- "First drink" in the program text appears on pp. 8, 23–24, 35, 37, 40–41, 43, 92, 154 and 157. Every one is about the moment before drinking or the cycle the first drink starts.
What the program text says
What happens after the first drink. "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" (pp. 22–23). Dr. Silkworth's statement says the same in medical terms: these drinkers "cannot start drinking without developing the phenomenon of craving" (p. xxx). This part matches the saying.
Why the first drink is the real problem. The very next lines turn the point around. All that would be beside the point if he never took the first drink, which sets "the terrible cycle in motion" (p. 23). "Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body" (p. 23). Asked why he started his last bender, he'll give "any one of a hundred alibis," and usually "he has no more idea why he took that first drink than you have" (p. 23).
No defense. "We are without defense against the first drink" (p. 24). The memory of past suffering doesn't come to mind with enough force, and the "old threadbare idea that this time we shall handle ourselves like other people" wins (p. 24).
Chapter 3's examples are about the thinking before the first drink, not the drinking after. Jim decides an ounce of whiskey in his milk can't hurt on a full stomach (pp. 35–37). Fred, sure his self-knowledge will protect him, orders a cocktail on a perfect day without a thought (pp. 40–41). "Parallel with our sound reasoning there inevitably ran some insanely trivial excuse for taking the first drink" (p. 37).
Where the defense comes from. "Once more: The alcoholic at certain times has no effective mental defense against the first drink" (p. 43). Except in a few rare cases, neither he nor anyone else can provide one. "His defense must come from a Higher Power" (p. 43).
In helping others. Chapter 7 tells the helper to show a newcomer "the mental twist which leads to the first drink of a spree" (p. 92), and how "the queer mental condition surrounding that first drink" stops the will power from working (p. 92).
What the saying gets right and what it leaves out
The saying is right that for the alcoholic the first drink starts everything, and the book adds that a long dry spell doesn't change that. Chapter 3's man who stayed bone dry for twenty-five years was soon as bad as ever when he drank again (pp. 32–33).
The saying can suggest the answer is simply not to take the first drink. The book says that's exactly what the alcoholic can't count on doing on his own. The "alcoholic of the hopeless variety" (p. 44) has no defense at certain times, and self-knowledge doesn't help (p. 39). The book's answer is the spiritual change the rest of it describes, after which, it says, "We will seldom be interested in liquor" (p. 84).
See also: Is the definition of insanity in the Big Book?
Read it yourself
- Chapter 2, "There Is a Solution" (pp. 22–25): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt2.pdf
- Chapter 3, "More About Alcoholism" (pp. 30–43): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt3.pdf
- "The Doctor's Opinion" (pp. xxv–xxxii): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_foreworddoctorsopinion.pdf
- Personal stories, Part II, with "Fear of Fear": https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_personalstories_partII.pdf
- Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers is sold by A.A. World Services: https://onlineliterature.aa.org
Sources
| Source | Pages | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Alcoholics Anonymous, whole fourth-edition text (searched) | — | 1939 text; fourth edition 2001 |
| Chapters 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 | 22–24, 30–43, 44, 84, 92 | 1939 |
| "The Doctor's Opinion" | xxx | 1939 |
| "Fear of Fear," Part II | 292 | personal story in the fourth edition (2001) |
| "Desperation Drinking," in Experience, Strength and Hope | — | story from an earlier edition, dropped 2001; collection 2003 |
| Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers | — | 1980; after 1950 |
Big Book page numbers are from the fourth edition.
Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book, Experience, Strength and Hope and Dr. Bob and the Good Oldtimers are © A.A. World Services, Inc.
These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.