--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If an addict who has been completely…" description: "\"If an addict who has been completely cured starts smoking again he no longer experiences the discomfort of his first addiction. There exists, therefore..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbc/jean-cocteau-1181_addict_if-an-addict-who-has-been-completely-cur_1523054.jpg" --- # If an addict who has been completely cured starts smoking… ![“If an addict who has been completely cured starts smoking again he no longer experiences the discomfort of his first addiction. There exists, therefore, outside alkaloids and habit, a sense for opium, an intangible habit which lives on, despite the recasting of the organism. The dead drug leaves a…” quote by Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbc/jean-cocteau-1181_addict_if-an-addict-who-has-been-completely-cur_1523054.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbc/jean-cocteau-1181_addict_if-an-addict-who-has-been-completely-cur_1523054.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/dbc/jean-cocteau-1181_addict_if-an-addict-who-has-been-completely-cur_1523054.jpg) > “If an addict who has been completely cured starts smoking again he no longer experiences the discomfort of his first addiction. There exists, therefore, outside alkaloids and habit, a sense for opium, an intangible habit which lives on, despite the recasting of the organism. The dead drug leaves a ghost behind. At certain hours it haunts the house.” [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Even after cure, a lingering, intangible craving persists, haunting the individual like a phantom of the former habit. **In simple terms:** Addiction leaves an unseen, haunting residue. Key Takeaway Address lingering cravings after recovery. Themes addiction recovery psychology memory haunting Mood somber introspective Type psychological philosophical When to use this quote - therapy - self‑reflection - support groups Key Concepts neuroscience behavioral patterns psychic residue Questions to Reflect On - What strategies can mitigate these lingering urges? - How does awareness of the “ghost” aid recovery? A Different Perspective May over‑generalize all addictions as having a “ghost.” ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Addiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/) [Discomfort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/discomfort/) [Drug](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drug/) [Funny smoking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/funny-smoking/) [Ghost](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ghost/) [Habit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/habit/) [No smoking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/no-smoking/) [Opium](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/opium/) [Organisms](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/organisms/) [Smoking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smoking/) [Smoking cigars](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/smoking-cigars/) [Wine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wine/) ## Related quotes > [To smoke or not to smoke: I can make of either a life-work.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mignon-mclaughlin/to-smoke-or-not-to-smoke-i-can-make-of-either-a-life-work/) [Mignon McLaughlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mignon-mclaughlin/) > [The dead drug leaves a ghost behind. At certain hours it haunts the house.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/the-dead-drug-leaves-a-ghost-behind-at-certain-hours-it-haunts-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I DON'T smoke anymore, except on National No Smoking Day as a protest against those who want to control our lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-littlejohn/i-don-t-smoke-anymore-except-on-national-no-smoking-day-as-a-protest/) Richard Littlejohn > [Nicotine patches are great. Stick one over each eye and you can't find your fags.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-hicks/nicotine-patches-are-great-stick-one-over-each-eye-and-you-can-t-find/) [Bill Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-hicks/) > [A cigar has "...a fire at one end and a fool at the other."](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/horace-greeley/a-cigar-has-a-fire-at-one-end-and-a-fool-at-the-other/) [Horace Greeley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/horace-greeley/) > [A custom loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs, and in the black, stinking fume…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/king-james-i/a-custom-loathsome-to-the-eye-hateful-to-the-nose-harmful-to-the/) [King James I](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/king-james-i/) > [If we see you smoking we will assume you are on fire and take appropriate action.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-adams/if-we-see-you-smoking-we-will-assume-you-are-on-fire-and-take/) [Douglas Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-adams/) > [Given the choice between a woman and a cigar, I will always choose the cigar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/groucho-marx/given-the-choice-between-a-woman-and-a-cigar-i-will-always-choose-the/) [Groucho Marx](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/groucho-marx/) > [More than one cigar at a time is excessive smoking.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/more-than-one-cigar-at-a-time-is-excessive-smoking/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Good food, good sex, good digestion, good sleep: to these basic animal pleasures, man has added nothing but the good cigarette.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mignon-mclaughlin/good-food-good-sex-good-digestion-good-sleep-to-these-basic-animal/) [Mignon McLaughlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mignon-mclaughlin/) > [aven, I have given up smoking again!... God! I feel fit. Homicidal, but fit. A different man. Irritable, moody, depressed, rude, nervy, perhaps; but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/a-p-herbert/aven-i-have-given-up-smoking-again-god-i-feel-fit-homicidal-but-fit-a/) [A. P. Herbert](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/a-p-herbert/) > [I have made it a rule never to smoke more than one cigar at a time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/i-have-made-it-a-rule-never-to-smoke-more-than-one-cigar-at-a-time/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [Ods me I marle what pleasure or felicity they have in taking their roguish tobacco. It is good for nothing but to choke a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-jonson/ods-me-i-marle-what-pleasure-or-felicity-they-have-in-taking-their/) [Ben Jonson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-jonson/) > [The believing we do something when we do nothing is the first illusion of tobacco.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ralph-waldo-emerson/the-believing-we-do-something-when-we-do-nothing-is-the-first/) [Ralph Waldo Emerson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ralph-waldo-emerson/) > [If I had taken my doctor's advice and quit smoking when he advised me to, I wouldn't have lived to go to his funeral.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-burns/if-i-had-taken-my-doctor-s-advice-and-quit-smoking-when-he-advised-me/) [George Burns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-burns/) ## More by Jean Cocteau > [What is history after all? History is facts which become lies in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-is-history-after-all-history-is-facts-which-become-lies-in-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I am happy to exhibit, but not to put myself on exhibition.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-am-happy-to-exhibit-but-not-to-put-myself-on-exhibition/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Love is mainly an affair of short spasms. If these spasms disappoint us, love dies. It is very seldom that it weathers the experience…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/love-is-mainly-an-affair-of-short-spasms-if-these-spasms-disappoint/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I believe in luck: how else can you explain the success of those you dislike?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-believe-in-luck-how-else-can-you-explain-the-success-of-those-you/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I have a piece of great and sad news to tell you: I am dead.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-have-a-piece-of-great-and-sad-news-to-tell-you-i-am-dead/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Fight any instinct to be humorless, for humorlessness is the worst of all absurdities.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/fight-any-instinct-to-be-humorless-for-humorlessness-is-the-worst-of/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Lying is the only art form that the public sanctions and instinctively prefers to reality.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/lying-is-the-only-art-form-that-the-public-sanctions-and/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [The dead drug leaves a ghost behind. At certain hours it haunts the house.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/the-dead-drug-leaves-a-ghost-behind-at-certain-hours-it-haunts-the/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [“Vivre est une chute horizontale”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/vivre-est-une-chute-horizontale/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [I expect a black silence that is almost as violent as laughter.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/i-expect-a-black-silence-that-is-almost-as-violent-as-laughter/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [My method is simple: not to bother about poetry. It must come of its own accord. Merely whispering its name drives it away.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/my-method-is-simple-not-to-bother-about-poetry-it-must-come-of-its/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [If a poet has a dream, it is not of becoming famous, but of being believed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/if-a-poet-has-a-dream-it-is-not-of-becoming-famous-but-of-being/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Lack of manners is the sign of a hero.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/lack-of-manners-is-the-sign-of-a-hero/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [What the public criticizes in you, cultivate. It is you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/what-the-public-criticizes-in-you-cultivate-it-is-you/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) > [Here I am trying to live, or rather, I am trying to teach the death within me how to live.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-cocteau/here-i-am-trying-to-live-or-rather-i-am-trying-to-teach-the-death/) [Jean Cocteau](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) [Explore all 255 Jean Cocteau quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-cocteau/) ## More Addict quotes > [The only way to make sure that the Hand didn't get to you would have been to kill your brother. I could've done it,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ilona-andrews/the-only-way-to-make-sure-that-the-hand-didn-t-get-to-you-would-have/) [Ilona Andrews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ilona-andrews/) > [Taxpayers would likely be responsible for treating addicts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-warren-kindt/taxpayers-would-likely-be-responsible-for-treating-addicts/) [John Warren Kindt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-warren-kindt/) > [They said a drug addict needs rehabilitation, they never said what a broken heart needs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/satyajit-chhotaray/they-said-a-drug-addict-needs-rehabilitation-they-never-said-what-a/) [Satyajit Chhotaray](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/satyajit-chhotaray/) > [I was ashamed. My son is a drug addict. What does this mean about me?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-sheff/i-was-ashamed-my-son-is-a-drug-addict-what-does-this-mean-about-me/) [David Sheff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-sheff/) > [Then they're like addicts; they can't help themselves... They will steal, cheat, embezzle and commit other crimes just to get money to gamble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-warren-kindt/then-they-re-like-addicts-they-can-t-help-themselves-they-will-steal/) [John Warren Kindt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-warren-kindt/) > [They are enthusiasts, devotees. Addicts. Something about the circus stirs their souls, and they ache for it when it is absent. They seek each…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/erin-morgenstern/they-are-enthusiasts-devotees-addicts-something-about-the-circus/) [Erin Morgenstern](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/erin-morgenstern/) > [When we think carefully, we see that the brief elation we experience when appeasing sensual impulses may not be very different from what the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dalai-lama/when-we-think-carefully-we-see-that-the-brief-elation-we-experience/) [Dalai Lama](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dalai-lama/) > [So many kids are fat drug addicts these days, it's almost as if Rush Limbaugh had puppies.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/so-many-kids-are-fat-drug-addicts-these-days-it-s-almost-as-if-rush/) [Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/) > [I'm a complete addict of The 'X Factor,' so I can see why everyone gets so inspired. But there's a downside to celebrity: your…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-quick/i-m-a-complete-addict-of-the-x-factor-so-i-can-see-why-everyone-gets/) [Diana Quick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-quick/) > [“I don’t fundamentally understand why people give a shit about what other people put up their noses or what other people put in their…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stefan-molyneux/i-don-t-fundamentally-understand-why-people-give-a-shit-about-what/) [Stefan Molyneux](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stefan-molyneux/) > [It doesn't have the ability to think rationally this economic model. It thinks like a drug addict: 'Where can I get my next fix?'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/naomi-klein/it-doesn-t-have-the-ability-to-think-rationally-this-economic-model/) [Naomi Klein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/naomi-klein/) > [It is not heroin or cocaine that makes one an addict, it is the need to escape from a harsh reality. There are more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shirley-chisholm/it-is-not-heroin-or-cocaine-that-makes-one-an-addict-it-is-the-need/) [Shirley Chisholm](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shirley-chisholm/) > [… an outlaw gulch, a haven for draft resisters, struggling artists, and drug addicts…a camp for semi-demented adults… Venice is like the legendary Phoenix…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-davidson/an-outlaw-gulch-a-haven-for-draft-resisters-struggling-artists-and/) Sara Davidson > [I had to come to terms about becoming an addict, which, for a long time, I lied to myself about the status of until…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/trent-reznor/i-had-to-come-to-terms-about-becoming-an-addict-which-for-a-long-time/) [Trent Reznor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/trent-reznor/) > [“Addiction is a decision. An individual wants something, whatever that something is, and makes a desicion to get it. Once they have it, they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-frey/addiction-is-a-decision-an-individual-wants-something-whatever-that/) [James Frey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-frey/) Browse all 634 Addict quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "If an addict who has been completely cured starts smoking again he no longer experiences the discomfort of his first addiction. There exists, therefore, outside alkaloids and habit, a sense for opium, an intangible habit which lives on, despite the recasting of the organism. The dead drug leaves a ghost behind. 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