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“I knew I needed the alcoholic as much as he needed me ... And this mutual give-and-take is at the very heart of all of AA's Twelfth Step work today. This was how to carry the message. The final missing link was located right there in my first talk with Dr. Bob.”

“I was told that sometimes a good sponsor disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed.”

“I was told that sometimes a good sponsor disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed.”

“I was told that sometimes a good sponsor disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed.”

“Our Traditions are set down on paper. But they were written first in our hearts. For each of us knows, instinctively I think, that AA is not ours to do with as we please. We are but caretakers to preserve the spiritual quality of our Fellowship; keep it whole for those who will come after us and have need of what has so generously been given to us.”

“Our Traditions are set down on paper. But they were written first in our hearts. For each of us knows, instinctively I think, that AA is not ours to do with as we please. We are but caretakers to preserve the spiritual quality of our Fellowship; keep it whole for those who will come after us and have need of what has so generously been given to us.”

"Our Traditions are set down on paper. But they were written first in our hearts. For each of us knows, instinctively I think, that AA is not ours to do with as we please. We are but caretakers to preserve the spiritual quality of our Fellowship; keep it whole for those who will come after us and have need of what has so generously been given to us."

“Finally came April 1939. The book was done. Tales of recovery for its story section had been supplied by Dr. Bob and his Akron brethren. Others were supplied by New Yorkers, New Jerseyites. One came in from Cleveland and another from Maryland. Chapters had been read and discussed at meetings. I had thought myself the author of the text until I discovered I was just the umpire of the differences of opinion. After endless voting on a title for the new work we had decided to call it The Way Out. But inquiry by Fitz M., our Maryland alcoholic, at The Library of Congress disclosed the fact that 12 books already bore that title. Surely we couldn't make our book the 13th. So we named it Alcoholics Anonymous instead! Though we didn't know it, our movement then got its name -- a name which because of the implication of humility and modesty has given us our treasured spiritual principle of anonymity.”

“Finally came April 1939. The book was done. Tales of recovery for its story section had been supplied by Dr. Bob and his Akron brethren. Others were supplied by New Yorkers, New Jerseyites. One came in from Cleveland and another from Maryland. Chapters had been read and discussed at meetings. I had thought myself the author of the text until I discovered I was just the umpire of the differences of opinion. After endless voting on a title for the new work we had decided to call it The Way Out. But inquiry by Fitz M., our Maryland alcoholic, at The Library of Congress disclosed the fact that 12 books already bore that title. Surely we couldn't make our book the 13th. So we named it Alcoholics Anonymous instead! Though we didn't know it, our movement then got its name -- a name which because of the implication of humility and modesty has given us our treasured spiritual principle of anonymity.”

“A leader must realize that even very prideful or angry people can sometimes be dead right, when the calm and the more humble are quite mistaken.

“These points are practical illustrations of the kinds of careful discrimination and soul-searching that true leadership must always try to exercise.”

“The laughter in AA is what attracted me from the very beginning. The restorative power of laughter should never be underestimated ... I have come to believe that I’m being restored to sanity when my sense of humor is restored and I cease to take myself so seriously.”

“At my very first AA meeting ... I heard words of love, understanding and compassion ... I believe the hand of God reached down at that meeting and healed me. For from that day thirty-eight years ago to this, I have not had a desire to drink or escape from reality again.”

“A leader must realize that even very prideful or angry people can sometimes be dead right, when the calm and the more humble are quite mistaken.

“These points are practical illustrations of the kinds of careful discrimination and soul-searching that true leadership must always try to exercise.”

“At my very first AA meeting ... I heard words of love, understanding and compassion ... I believe the hand of God reached down at that meeting and healed me. For from that day thirty-eight years ago to this, I have not had a desire to drink or escape from reality again.”

“The laughter in AA is what attracted me from the very beginning. The restorative power of laughter should never be underestimated ... I have come to believe that I’m being restored to sanity when my sense of humor is restored and I cease to take myself so seriously.”