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Daily Inspiration Quote by William Griffith Wilson

"We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us"

About this Quote

There is something almost audacious in how final this sounds: no vow, no struggle narrative, no daily wrestling match - just an erasure. Wilson’s line performs a psychological sleight of hand that’s central to early Alcoholics Anonymous rhetoric. Instead of framing sobriety as a constant act of willpower ("sworn off"), he offers a different fantasy: freedom so complete it feels like the very category of the temptation has been deleted.

That’s the intent, and it’s strategic. A pledge can be broken; a removed problem can’t. By refusing the language of abstinence-as-sacrifice, Wilson lowers the glamour of the forbidden. He’s not promising saintliness. He’s selling relief, and relief is what exhaustion craves. The subtext is equally pointed: if you still feel you’re giving something up, you’re not at the destination yet. That’s both comforting and quietly disciplinary - it sets a standard for what “real” recovery should feel like.

Context matters: Wilson is speaking from the AA worldview where the solution is spiritual and communal rather than merely behavioral. "It does not exist for us" isn’t denial; it’s belonging. The “us” is the engine. You’re not just quitting a substance; you’re joining a story where alcohol loses its centrality because another identity has replaced it. The line works because it reframes sobriety not as a grim subtraction, but as a kind of cultural reclassification: the old problem becomes irrelevant, and that irrelevance is the miracle.

Quote Details

TopicLetting Go
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Wilson, William Griffith. (2026, January 16). We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-have-not-even-sworn-off-instead-the-problem-85425/

Chicago Style
Wilson, William Griffith. "We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-have-not-even-sworn-off-instead-the-problem-85425/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"We have not even sworn off. Instead, the problem has been removed. It does not exist for us." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/we-have-not-even-sworn-off-instead-the-problem-85425/. Accessed 13 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

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William Griffith Wilson (November 26, 1895 - January 24, 1971) was a Celebrity from USA.

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