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“A little voice deep inside me said, ‘Hello, I am here.’ It was a small voice, and sounded as if it were buried underneath the cushions of my couch. It was my soul ... I had forgotten it.”

“I opened up the imaginary closet in my mind where I kept all the well-nurtured hurts and tossed them into my past, where they belonged. Into this newly cleaned-out space, I started storing my goals and the hopes and dreams of what I wanted to achieve in life.”

“There will always be people in the Fellowship with whom I don’t see eye-to-eye, but that doesn’t mean we can’t work together. The Fellowship wouldn’t be what it is today if we always saw eye-to-eye on everything.”

“I started going to meetings a little early and resisted the urge to bolt out the door the moment the Lord’s Prayer was finished. I thought I might try some of that ‘get active’ stuff, so I volunteered to make coffee at a meeting I liked to attend ... It wasn’t long before I found myself in the middle of Alcoholics Anonymous.”

“Our resentments, anxieties and depressions were definitely caused, we claimed, by our unfortunate circumstances and by the inconsiderate behavior of other people. To our consternation, our sponsors didn't seem impressed ... They just grinned and said, ‘Why don't we sit down and take a hard look at all of AA's Twelve Steps? Maybe you have been missing a lot -- in fact, nearly everything.’”

“I can change my viewpoint anytime I want to. I can look at things from down, by lying back and waiting for someone to rescue me. Or I can stand tall and look at the way things are as the way they’re meant to be.”

“Alone in the town, I was scared to death of getting drunk. I was no longer a teacher or a preacher, I was an alcoholic who knew that he needed another alcoholic, as much as that one could possibly need me. Driven by that urge, I was soon face to face with Dr. Bob.”

“Not all of the problems created during the days when I hid in the fog of booze have straightened out, but I now have enough courage to face them squarely.”

“A coffeepot simmers on the kitchen stove, a hospital sobers the stricken sufferer, general headquarters broadcasts the AA message ... All these symbolize AA in action. For action is the magic word of Alcoholics Anonymous.”

“Those who follow the AA program with the greatest earnestness and zeal not only maintain sobriety but often acquire finer characteristics and attitudes as well. One of these is tolerance.”

“The things that used to keep me awake nights now no longer bother me, because I can put them against the backdrop of eternity. The long, lonely winter that was alcoholism has turned into spring – the rebirth, the renewal of my life.”

“I don’t stand around on street corners just loving everybody today. But in an AA meeting or any AA gathering, I know I am in the kind of community of love that every therapy, religion, and philosophy desperately seeks. Love is our glue.”

“I can now admit that most of my troubles stem from one large and glaring defect: self-centeredness.”

“A good question to ask myself frequently is: What am I looking for – advice or approval?”

“We in AA talk about crossing the invisible line into our alcoholism. What about crossing the invisible line into the program of Alcoholics Anonymous?”