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“In this life we shall attain nothing like perfect humility and love. So we shall have to settle, respecting most of our problems, for a very gradual progress, punctuated sometimes by heavy setbacks. Our old-time attitudes of ‘all or nothing’ will have to be abandoned.”

“No one at the gym, at work, in my neighborhood, or even in church had ever put their hand out to me. In AA, it happened every day.”

“My perception of any situation is in my control -- I have a choice about which way my mind will react. I try my best to look for positive solutions; I take my problems to my sponsor or I let my friends at a meeting know what is going on inside me.”

“At the end of each day ... I hope that I can say a short prayer of gratitude for another day of sobriety. Anything else good that happens is a bonus.”

“No prophet can presume to say whether the world outcome will be blazing destruction or the beginning, under God’s intention, of the brightest era yet known to mankind. I am sure we AAs well comprehend this scene. In microcosm, we have experienced this identical state of terrifying uncertainty, each in his own life.”

“We can’t grow without giving ourselves space for silence and the voice within.”

“Our Serenity Prayer ... brings a new light to us that can dissipate our old-time and nearly fatal habit of fooling ourselves.”

“When I first started in AA, I began each day asking God to help keep me sober that day, and ended each night by thanking him for another day of sobriety. I still end each day that way, as I have done almost every night during the past forty-one years. It is a routine for me, but every once in a while I pause to reflect on what it truly means. I do it every night so that God won’t change his mind, as I truly believe he helped lead me from the pits of alcoholism to the AA way of life.”

“I have always carried a meeting list and quarter for a phone call because I don’t know when I am going to want another drink.”

“We now know that we do not have to run away, nor ought we again try to overcome adversity by still another bulldozing power drive that can only push up obstacles before us faster than they can be taken down.”

“Times change, alcoholism doesn’t.”

“God never gives me more than I can handle, but sometimes he takes me right to the edge.”

“The great gratitude I’ve always felt made it possible to connect the miracles in my life and so many others’ with surrender to the Steps and the practice of their principles. One day, I simply heard myself talking about Step Three to a new ‘baby,’ and I knew I believed what I was saying.”

“I’m learning the freedom that comes with facing my problems fearlessly and without resistance. They are not all resolved, but I’ve done my part. God will take it from there.”

“The parent who overstays his time can only hamper the growth of his offspring. This I must not do. My proper place will soon be along the sidelines, cheering you newer ones as you carry on.”