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“Alcohol robbed me of my adolescence. But I’ve learned to grow up in AA.”

“My understanding of a Higher Power is still subject to shifts. Sometimes, I think of it as The Unknowable, or as The Great What Is. Often, I envision it as an indifferent force, something like an electrical current, that is available to all living things and from which human beings can derive strength and generosity and acceptance. The one thing I feel sure of is that it’s more powerful than my will.”

“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 five H's combine into a powerful formula for success. Starting with Hope, passing through Honesty into a gracious Humility, we become Human again, taking our rightful places in society and, by living a well rounded life, develop an integrated personality free of the stresses that urge us to drink. Finally, through Helpfulness we express gratitude and pass on to others some of the blessings we have enjoyed these recent weeks, months, years. Truly a Magic Formula for Continued Sobriety....”

“I am not automatically entitled to succeed in everything, or, indeed, in anything. I am, thank God and AA, no longer a superior individual, but simply a sober individual. My Higher Power and I can take it from there, working together that I may do the best I am able to do and realize what talents I may have.”

“As by some deep instinct, we AAs have known from the very beginning that we must never, no matter what the provocation, publicly take sides in any fight, even a worthy one.”

“Through doing the Steps and receiving love from my AA family, my perception of life has changed. Once my thoughts changed, so did my actions, then, finally, the results.”

“We've all seen the new member who stays sober for a time, largely through sponsorship. Then maybe the sponsor gets drunk, and you know what usually happens. Left without a human prop, the new member gets drunk, too. He has been glorifying an individual, instead of following the program.

Certainly, we need leaders, but we must regard them as the human agents of the Higher Power and not with undue adulation as individuals. The Fourth and Tenth Steps cannot be too strongly emphasized here, ‘Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves .... Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.’ There is your perfect antidote for halo-poisoning.”

“I can’t walk on water, but with my Higher Power and my AA friends, I can keep my head just above it.”

“The future belongs to you.”

“I used to think that having a pint was the only way to have fun; now I know that, for me, it's the only way to destroy the fun that I'm having!”

“As I trudge the Road of Happy Destiny, AA holds my left hand, God holds my right, and I have no hands left to pick up a drink.”

“By revealing our secrets and thereby ridding ourselves of guilt we can actually change our thinking and by altering our thinking we can change ourselves. What we will be tomorrow is determined by what we think today.”

“The AA message does not carry itself; somebody must carry it.”

“The word powerless ... described my situation with alcohol perfectly and completely. My life was more than unmanageable, it was illegal.”