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“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.”

“My greatest challenges are before me. But my experience with the Third Step, even in the smallest matters, gives me the courage to meet whatever lies ahead, twenty-four hours at a time.”

“One old-timer explained it this way to me: ‘Don’t let your mind rattle on at meetings. Then all you’ll hear from someone else is something that gets you thinking about what you have to say. Listen to everything the person talking has to say, as if your life depended on it -- because it might one day. Listen to everyone this way, especially the ones you want to ignore,’ this old-timer said. ‘God won’t deprive you of the answer you need, if you’ve come to an AA meeting needing an answer. He may, however, have your answer come out of the mouth of the person you least expect to have your answer. God has a sense of humor.’”

“The simplicity of this program never changes -- what works is constant: trust in God, clean house, and work with others.”

“Through the years, I have read thousands of books and pamphlets, but the Big Book is still the superstar. The love flowing from its pages encourages me to keep the blade of my sobriety ever sharp and gleaming, to cut through all the ignorance and terror that surround still-suffering alcoholics.”

“The things that count cease being those that can be held in the hand and become only what can be held in the heart.”

“It is not the fault of great ideals that they are sometimes misused.”

“In AA we talk a great deal about each other. Provided our motives are thoroughly good, this is not in the least wrong. But damaging gossip is quite something else. Of course, this kind of scuttlebutt can be well grounded in fact. But no such abuse of the facts could ever be twisted into anything resembling integrity. It can't be maintained that this sort of superficial honesty is good for anyone. So the need to examine ourselves is very much with us. Following a gossip binge we can well ask ourselves these questions: ‘Why did we say what we did? Were we only trying to be helpful and informative? Or were we not trying to feel superior by confessing the other fellow's sins? Or, because of fear and dislike, were we not really aiming to damage him?’ This would be an honest attempt to examine ourselves, rather than the other fellow. Here we see the difference between the use of the truth and its misuse. Right here we begin to regain the integrity we had lost.”

“Well-remembered is the comfort I used to take from an exaggerated belief in my own honesty ... I was so absurdly proud of my business standards that I never failed to whip up a fine contempt for those of my fellow Wall-Streeters who were prone to short-change their customers. This was arrogant enough, but the ensuing self-deception proved even worse. My prized business honesty was presently converted into a comfortable cloak under which I could hide the many serious flaws that beset other departments of my life. Being certain of this one virtue, it was easy to conclude that I had them all. For years on end, this prevented me from taking a good look at myself.”

“We now know that we shall always practice these principles: first because we must, then because we ought to, and finally because the majority of us will deeply want to do just that.”

“I write my goals and priorities in pencil, so I can erase them. This is not so I can sell myself short, but so I can strive for more ambitious outcomes. Recovery is a lifelong process; the moment I engrave in stone my blueprint for living, I’ll rediscover and recover something that is paramount to the value of my life. And then I’ll be looking for a new stone.”

“I don’t foresee outgrowing my need for help.”

“Thelma told me that, no matter how much I feared making bad decisions, I could not learn how to make good decisions except by making decisions. ‘You’ll make mistakes,’ she said, ‘We all do. You will make some bad decisions before you learn how to make good ones. But what is true about good decisions is also true about bad ones: You will always learn from the consequences.’”

“How life looks to me depends on how I look at it. While this sounds simple, just like everything else in Alcoholics Anonymous, it requires continual practice in order to get good at it. I get better at it as each year passes. I am grateful that Alcoholics Anonymous is teaching me how to see straight, one day at a time.”