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“I had been introverted and tense. I had been blocked by a fat ego that made sharing impossible, by a lack of communication, by a fear of love. The Fifth Step swept away all those barricades. With some humility, I could begin to find joy in the simple delights of life.”

“The AA program does not recognize walls. It is immune to the conditions which break down an individual relationship, the difference in social levels, of intellect, of experience. AA takes no heed of this. It has one primary law, help your fellow man and do it by example rather than by instruction.”

“I’m still mystified by how I got sober, and the only answer that makes sense is that I stopped drinking through the grace of God. I was thinking about the difference between those of us who get sober and those who are still drinking, and I believe the difference is that we have accepted the grace that was offered. Every day, my Higher Power gives me the grace to be sober, and every day I make the choice not to drink, to accept the grace.”

“While I have years of sobriety, I really only have this day.”

“Sometimes I wonder if this illness isn’t a gift rather than a problem.”

“During days and nights of darkness as I face the demons of self, the knowledge that my God is always in charge keeps me trudging to the end of each journey. With God, AA, and willingness I can meet the other me and begin putting my fractured self together again.”

“I believe most of us would agree that the general idea of anonymity is sound, because it encourages alcoholics and the families of alcoholics to approach us for help. Still fearful of being stigmatized, they regard our anonymity as an assurance their problems will be kept confidential; that the alcoholic skeleton in the family closet will not wander in the streets.”

“Few of us will ever be famous, but we can all be great because we serve each other.”

“How wonderful to be sober, to be able to think clearly (at times, at least), and to become aware of some portion of the greater wisdom concealed so deeply within myself.”

“The best university for me -- the best school, the best teaching -- was in analyzing mistakes that I’d made and problems I created because of these mistakes. Not my successes.”

“I’d like to develop Step Eleven further -- for the benefit of the complete doubter, the unlucky one who can’t believe it has any real merit at all .... As he goes along with his process of prayer, he begins to add up the results. If he persists, he will almost surely find more serenity, more tolerance, less fear, and less anger. He will acquire a quiet courage, the kind that doesn’t strain him. He can look at so-called failure and success for what they really are. Problems and calamity will begin to mean instruction, instead of destruction. He will feel freer and saner ... His sense of purpose and of direction will increase. His tensions and anxieties will commence to fade. His physical health is likely to improve. Wonderful and unaccountable things will start to happen. Twisted relations in his family and on the outside will unaccountably improve. Even if few of these things happen, he will still find himself in possession of great gifts. When he has to deal with hard circumstances he can face them and accept them. He can now accept himself and the world around him.”

“Until today, at least, I am getting further away from that first drink, which is the one that inevitably leads me to complete disaster.”

“For all its usual destructiveness, we have found that fear can be the starting point for better things. Fear can be a stepping-stone to prudence and to a decent respect for others. It can point the path to justice, as well as to hate. And the more we have of respect and justice, the more we shall begin to find the love which can suffer much, and yet be freely given. So fear need not always be destructive, because the lessons of its consequences can lead us to positive values.”

“The Twelve Steps are deceptively simple but provide limitless spiritual growth for anyone with the patience to stay the course.”

 “We sense that here in AA this shared darkness has become a shared light.”