" Maybe I can quit drinking one of these days. They all say that, don’t they?’ ‘It takes about three years.’ ‘Three years?’ He looked shocked. ‘Usually it does. It’s a different world. You have to get used to a paler set of colours, a quieter lot of sounds. You have to allow for relapses. All the people you used to know well will get to be just a little strange. You won’t even like most of them, and they won’t like you too well. "

― Raymond Chandler , The Long Goodbye (Philip Marlowe, #6)