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“We are masterworks, all lovingly created by God’s hands. Whether our colors are vivid or subtle, whether the design is boldly abstract or serenely pastoral is not our choice. Ours is only to accept this work of art as given -- to strive to reveal our true colors and the beauty of our true design in everything we say and think and do.”

“Never should we be lulled into complacent self-satisfaction by the wide acclaim and success that is everywhere ours. This is the subtle temptation which could stagnate us today, perchance disintegrate us tomorrow. We have always rallied to meet and transcend failure and crisis. Problems have been our stimulants. How well, though, shall we be able to meet the problems of success?”

“Not drinking is the first requirement for joy; the second requirement is gratitude.”

“For me, there is a direct coupling of the Tenth Step and Step Two. The more sanity, the quicker the admission that I am wrong. It is much easier today to get rid of an overreaction at the thought level before it becomes a spoken word and then a physical act. “Now I can see that sanity is steadily being restored to me so that I can use the other Steps to greater advantage.”

“There will be love and laughter and a delicious sense of well-being down deep inside if you will abandon yourself to the business of recovery -- not just recovery from the disease of active alcoholism, but deeper than that, recovery from a former self.”

“It seems the more I give to Alcoholics Anonymous, the better my life gets.”

“‘Let us always love the best in others -- and never fear their worst.’”

“I’m free to be the person I’ve always wanted to be, but never before had the courage to become.”

“I need grace to recover happily, to be comfortable in my sobriety, and to be able to help others do the same.”

“What profiteth it a man if he has gained sobriety and lost his sense of humor?”

“The first thing my sponsor told me was, ‘I don’t have time to help you stay sick ... but if you want to get better I’d be glad to help.”

“As I see it, the ever-growing, multiplying, and compounding miracle of AA is that because one man was lonely, afraid, and sick in a strange city, I need never be alone again in a strange city.”

“There have been many times when I’ve felt inadequate to meet life’s demands, but AA and the Twelve Steps have always helped me find a way.”

“As a child, hearing my first symphony, I was lifted up into its indescribable harmony, though I knew little of how or whence it came. So today, when I listen for God's music of the spheres, I can now and again hear those divine chords by which I am told that the great composer loves me -- and that I love Him.”

“If the day comes that I do drink again, it will not be because I had no alternative. It will be because I had an alternative, provided by a loving God, but was unwilling to use it.”