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“We have to grow or else deteriorate. For us, the ‘status quo’ can only be for today, never for tomorrow. Change we must; we cannot stand still.”

“It is impossible to know everyone, but if I try to relate myself with just one other person, something will happen, something remarkable.”

“Don’t regret growing old, it’s a privilege denied to many.”

“If we are to find spiritual growth and serenity, we must dress our minds each morning as carefully as we dress our bodies. Only then can today become the glorious tomorrow we looked forward to yesterday.”

“Work on Step Nine has freed me from fears about the past and given me more energy to devote to present-day living – this twenty-four hours.”

“I spent years looking for things to alienate me, make me different, make me special or unique, better or worse ... I was taught through the Steps to start dwelling on the positive – the ‘alikeness’ instead of the differences.”

“William Duncan Silkworth ... supplied us with the tools with which to puncture the toughest alcoholic ego, those shattering phrases by which he described our illness: the obsession of the mind that compels us to drink and the allergy of the body that condemns us to go mad or die. Without these indispensable passwords, AA could never have worked.”

“Let us continue to take our inventory as a Fellowship, searching out our flaws and confessing them freely. Let us devote ourselves to the repair of all faulty relations that may exist, whether within or without.

“Suffering is no longer a menace to be evaded at any cost. When it does come, no matter how grievously, we realize that it too has its purpose. It is our great teacher because it reveals our defects and so pushes us forward into the paths of progress. The pain of drinking did just this for us. And so can any other pain.”

“There are more amends to be made, letters to be sent, Twelfth Step work to be done, responsibilities to be assumed, and honest talks to be had with loved ones. Life is meant to be lived by facing the challenges it brings. Otherwise, I’m not living, just existing.”

“I’ve found the comfort, love, and support I need to pick up the pieces and try again after my setbacks ... I’m not alone in my journey.”

“Laughter is one of God’s greatest and most beneficent gifts to us. Laugh with him sometimes at yourself.”

“Happiness is not a station we arrive at; it’s a way of traveling.”

“I can no longer use the illness of alcoholism as an excuse for anything. There is a catch, however. If I fail to use my recovery in service to others, I will become sick again.”

“We can, through broken anonymity, resume our old and disastrous pursuit of personal power and prestige, public honors, and money -- the same implacable urges that when frustrated once caused us to drink; the same forces that are today ripping the globe apart at its seams.”