--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: the reward for total abstinence from…" description: "\"the reward for total abstinence from alcohol seems, illogically enough, to be the capacity for becoming intoxicated without it.\" — Rebecca West" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/367/rebecca-west-1248_abstinence_the-reward-for-total-abstinence-from-alc_2921598.jpg" --- # the reward for total abstinence from alcohol seems… ![“the reward for total abstinence from alcohol seems, illogically enough, to be the capacity for becoming intoxicated without it.” quote by Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/367/rebecca-west-1248_abstinence_the-reward-for-total-abstinence-from-alc_2921598.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/367/rebecca-west-1248_abstinence_the-reward-for-total-abstinence-from-alc_2921598.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/367/rebecca-west-1248_abstinence_the-reward-for-total-abstinence-from-alc_2921598.jpg) > “the reward for total abstinence from alcohol seems, illogically enough, to be the capacity for becoming intoxicated without it.” [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Abstinence can paradoxically heighten the desire for the very thing avoided, revealing deeper cravings. **In simple terms:** Avoiding something can increase its allure. Key Takeaway Recognize hidden cravings. Themes self-control paradox desire Mood reflective thoughtful Type philosophical observational When to use this quote - personal relationships - health decisions - habit formation Key Concepts psychology addiction self-awareness Questions to Reflect On - How does avoidance affect desire? - Can moderation replace abstinence? A Different Perspective May not apply to all substances or contexts. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Abstinence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstinence/) [Abstinence Alcohol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstinence-alcohol-4260550/) [Addiction](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/addiction/) [Alcohol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alcohol/) [Alcohol Illogically](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alcohol-illogically-4260548/) [Alcoholism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alcoholism/) [Becoming](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/becoming/) [Capacity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capacity/) [Capacity Intoxicated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capacity-intoxicated-4260549/) [Drinking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/drinking/) [Enough](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/enough/) [Illogically Capacity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/illogically-capacity-4260551/) [Intoxicated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/intoxicated/) [Rewards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rewards/) [Seems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/seems/) [Wine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wine/) ## Related quotes > [I'm not drunk, I'm just intoxicated by you. 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I needed her more than food or sunlight.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pepper-winters/i-thought-i-would-be-her-nightmare-her-terror-and-darkness-i-wanted/) [Pepper Winters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pepper-winters/) > [O thou beautiful And unimaginable ether! and Ye multiplying masses of increased And still increasing lights! what are ye? what Is this blue wilderness…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lord-byron/o-thou-beautiful-and-unimaginable-ether-and-ye-multiplying-masses-of/) [Lord Byron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lord-byron/) > [“I want to feel intoxicated from inhaling the scent of you.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/truth-devour/i-want-to-feel-intoxicated-from-inhaling-the-scent-of-you/) [Truth Devour](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/truth-devour/) > [Those who have been once intoxicated with power, and have derived any kind of emolument from it, even though but for one year, never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-burke/those-who-have-been-once-intoxicated-with-power-and-have-derived-any/) [Edmund Burke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-burke/) > [“...Swann had, as he shook the Marquise's hand, seen her bosom from close to and from above, he plunged an attentive, serious, absorbed, almost…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-proust/swann-had-as-he-shook-the-marquise-s-hand-seen-her-bosom-from-close/) [Marcel Proust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-proust/) ## More by Rebecca West > [I see the main problem of my life, and indeed anybody's life, as the balancing of competitive freedoms ... a sense of mutual obligations…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/i-see-the-main-problem-of-my-life-and-indeed-anybody-s-life-as-the/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [“There is, of course, no reason for the existence of the male sex except that sometimes one needs help with moving the piano.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/there-is-of-course-no-reason-for-the-existence-of-the-male-sex-except/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [“At the top of a hill our automobile stuck in a snowdrift. 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I often have a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/if-there-is-a-god-i-don-t-think-he-would-demand-that-anyone-bow-down/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [Any authentic work of art must start an argument between the artist and his audience.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/any-authentic-work-of-art-must-start-an-argument-between-the-artist/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) > [... there has never been a period in history when there have been necessary killings which has not been instantly followed by a period…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/there-has-never-been-a-period-in-history-when-there-have-been/) [Rebecca West](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) [Explore all 264 Rebecca West quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/) ## More Abstinence quotes > [Sexual activity, and the thoughts and fantasies of sex, use up a great portion of our vital force. When that force is conserved through…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patanjali/sexual-activity-and-the-thoughts-and-fantasies-of-sex-use-up-a-great/) [Patanjali](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patanjali/) > [Used with due abstinence, hope acts as a healthful tonic; intemperately indulged, as an enervating opiate. The visions of future triumph, which at first…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/james-fitzjames-stephen/used-with-due-abstinence-hope-acts-as-a-healthful-tonic-intemperately/) [James Fitzjames Stephen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/james-fitzjames-stephen/) > [“Male masturbation is not a release, it is a squandering. Anyone who begins to no-fap will soon discover this. Like most things, we have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jack-freestone/male-masturbation-is-not-a-release-it-is-a-squandering-anyone-who/) [Jack Freestone](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jack-freestone/) > [Atheism is a religion like abstinence is a sex position.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/atheism-is-a-religion-like-abstinence-is-a-sex-position/) [Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/) > [When a married person uses pornography, or is unfaithful, it compromises not just his (or her) purity, but also compromises the spouse's purity. As…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-o-donnell/when-a-married-person-uses-pornography-or-is-unfaithful-it/) [Christine O'Donnell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-o-donnell/) > [“Look, choosing to wait until marriage makes me feel empowered. But if the same choice cripples you, then it wasn't the right one.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachael-allen/look-choosing-to-wait-until-marriage-makes-me-feel-empowered-but-if/) [Rachael Allen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachael-allen/) > [Taking the pledge will not make bad liquor good, but it will improve it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-twain/taking-the-pledge-will-not-make-bad-liquor-good-but-it-will-improve-it/) [Mark Twain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-twain/) > [“It is better to lock up your heart with a merciless padlock, than to fall in love with someone who doesn't know what they…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-bassey-johnson/it-is-better-to-lock-up-your-heart-with-a-merciless-padlock-than-to/) [Michael Bassey Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-bassey-johnson/) > [There is a great deal of political pressure to only talk about abstinence, and to deny support for condoms and education on using them.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/there-is-a-great-deal-of-political-pressure-to-only-talk-about/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [Abstinence-only education - the best STD (Sexually Transmitted Disease) and pregnancy delivery system that politicians have ever devised.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rachel-maddow/abstinence-only-education-the-best-std-sexually-transmitted-disease/) [Rachel Maddow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rachel-maddow/) > [While one may lose much because of avarice, nothing was ever accomplished by abstinence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/isuna-hasekura/while-one-may-lose-much-because-of-avarice-nothing-was-ever/) [Isuna Hasekura](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/isuna-hasekura/) > [“The secular, for all its goodness, does not defend itself very well against mindless and perpetual consumption. It cries out to be offered by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-farrar-capon/the-secular-for-all-its-goodness-does-not-defend-itself-very-well/) [Robert Farrar Capon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-farrar-capon/) > [I went to an all-girls Catholic school. And all the nuns just breathed down our necks "abstinence." And that's not the right thing to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-mccarthy/i-went-to-an-all-girls-catholic-school-and-all-the-nuns-just-breathed/) [Jenny McCarthy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-mccarthy/) > [How do we want our air? Pure. How do we want our water? Pure. How do we want sex on our wedding night? Pure.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-kelly/how-do-we-want-our-air-pure-how-do-we-want-our-water-pure-how-do-we/) [Molly Kelly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-kelly/) > [“There’s gratification in abstaining from the easy choice. Instant gratification can bring more suffering than pleasure. If I do the hard thing, the next…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cecily-wang/there-s-gratification-in-abstaining-from-the-easy-choice-instant/) [Cecily Wang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cecily-wang/) [Browse all 233 Abstinence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/abstinence/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "the reward for total abstinence from alcohol seems, illogically enough, to be the capacity for becoming intoxicated without it.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rebecca West" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/the-reward-for-total-abstinence-from-alcohol-seems-illogically-enough/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Abstinence" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/the-reward-for-total-abstinence-from-alcohol-seems-illogically-enough/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/367/rebecca-west-1248_abstinence_the-reward-for-total-abstinence-from-alc_2921598.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/367/rebecca-west-1248_abstinence_the-reward-for-total-abstinence-from-alc_2921598.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/367/rebecca-west-1248_abstinence_the-reward-for-total-abstinence-from-alc_2921598.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“the reward for total abstinence from alcohol seems, illogically enough, to be the capacity for becoming…” — Rebecca West", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Rebecca West", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rebecca-west/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "the reward for total abstinence from...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/the-reward-for-total-abstinence-from-alcohol-seems-illogically-enough/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rebecca-west/the-reward-for-total-abstinence-from-alcohol-seems-illogically-enough/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```