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“Through the Twelve Steps I was shown how to sweep aside the primacy of concern with self, to discard the selfishness and arrogance that stood in the way. All these were obstacles to love, and as I began to learn to turn my life and will over to God as I understood him, the first faint glimmerings of humility began to appear.”

“From the very first time I stepped into this room and joined this circle of chairs, I felt a powerful spirit. Each time I return here I feel this spirit and the beginning of a wonderful feeling of peace.”

“I can say no to a lot of things I’m not interested in. All the people-pleasing activities I used to engage in, I can cut out now. That gives me time to do the truly helpful, gut-warming little things, just because they need doing and I truly care. I have time to work my program.”

“In early sobriety, I remember moaning to another member about how I didn’t have a relationship, I didn’t have a new car, and I didn’t have a flashy job.  He replied: ‘It takes a steady hand to hold a full cup.’”

“As early as 1945, mediating and giving suggestions by mail for the solution of group problems had put a tremendous volume of work on Headquarters. With most of the metropolitan AA centers, correspondence files had grown six inches thick. Seemingly, every contestant in every group argument at every point of the compass wrote us in this period.”

“AA and my Higher Power have transformed me from a complex person who lived out of her head to a simple person who is trying to live out of her heart.”

“AA is not an ‘insiders’ kind of Fellowship, thanks to the efforts of hundreds of thousands of AAs worldwide. We'll help any drunk anywhere, any time.”

“The future belongs to you.”

“My daily life is conducted in a manner that is far different from my drinking days. The places I go, the things I do, and the people I am with are a reflection of my spiritual progress. My life is conducted with the knowledge that God is always at my side and guides me through the day. For that, at the end of each day, I say, ‘Thank You.’”

“From cradle to grave, the drunk and the potential alcoholic will have to be completely surrounded by true and deep understanding and by a continuous barrage of information: the facts about his illness, its symptoms, its grim seriousness. Why should an alcoholic have to wait until he is 55 and be horribly mangled to find out that he is a very sick man, when enough education of the right kind might have convinced him at 30 or 35?”

“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.”

“I am more a woman of action than a woman in reaction, and hope is more present in my life than insecurity ... As much as I was thirsty for alcohol, today I am thirsty for knowledge.”

“Like other men and women, we AAs look with deep apprehension upon the vast power struggle about us, a struggle in myriad forms that invades every level, tearing society apart. I think we AAs are fortunate to be acutely aware that such forces must never be ruling among us, lest we perish altogether.”

“AA is more than a set of principles; it is a Society of alcoholics in action. We must carry the message, else we ourselves can wither and those who haven’t been given the truth will die.”

“Because of what I learned in my home group -- to be on time, sit in the front row, thank the speaker, take commitments, pray and meditate -- I’m able to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. It’s important for me to be connected to the love of giving back and the joy of helping others -- chips, cakes, Step work and lots of reaching out.”