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“I didn’t need to learn how to meditate before meditating. It turned out to be one of those learn-as-you-go things -- just as learning how to stay sober is part of staying sober a day at a time.”

“Nothing improves if you drink.”

“Up to now AA seems to have taken the right turning at each new crossroad. This could scarcely have been our doing alone. Our Fellowship has afforded a convincing proof of that wise old adage which declares that ‘man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.’”

“I am finally learning really to live one day at a time and to appreciate and be alert to the beautiful, marvel-filled, albeit sometimes infuriating world around me.”

“We well know that our defects, as people and as a Society, have been and still are very great. And we hope that we shall never cease to rededicate ourselves to their correction.”

“A vast communications net now covers the earth, even to its remotest reaches ... Nothing can matter more to the future welfare of AA than the manner in which we use this colossus of communication. Used unselfishly and well, the results can surpass our present imagination. Should we handle this great instrument badly, we shall be shattered by the ego demands of our own people -- often with the best of intention on their part.”

“From the moment I pulled open the doors to my very first meeting, I felt something different, something good was going to happen. Those doors, which at the time I believed to be the heaviest ever made, allowed me to walk into a new way of life.”

“Clearly, the chief mark of restoration to sanity is our not taking the first drink.”

“Empathy, not sympathy or pity, is the most useful quality a sponsor can cultivate.”

“With respect to its own affairs, the collective conscience of the group will, given time, almost surely demonstrate its perfect dependability. The group conscience will, in the end, prove a far more infallible guide for group affairs than the decision of any individual member, however good or wise he may be.”

“One night after a Step Two meeting, I decided to find out what those courageous early members who put our Twelve Steps together really meant by sanity. I was a little surprised to find that my dictionary defined it as the quality of being sound of mind, sound of judgment, reasonable and rational in one’s thoughts ... As I sat there mulling over the definition, an idea occurred to me: ‘This is what I’m to be restored to -- sound, reasonable, rational thinking.’”

“If I want to be a leader, I have to do more than just find out in which direction the mob is moving and then get out in front of it ... Leadership involves significant sacrifice of personal goals and ambitions. A person really needs to have Tradition Two right at the center ... Personal pettiness just has no place in leadership.”

“I am a student of life just trying to learn how the universe works. The most powerful lesson I have learned is that it all happens inside me. My perception of any situation is in my control -- I have a choice about which way my mind will react.”

“Recovery is something like the restoration of a very old painting, covered over by layers and layers of darkening, distorted varnish ... Not all of the underlying pattern can be revealed at one time. What is uncovered, bit by bit and layer by slow, careful layer, are the things which are necessary and appropriate for me to know about myself right now.”

“Drinking is no longer a problem, but my thinking sure is. Writing a gratitude list puts the brakes on negative thoughts, turns me back toward the light, and helps me to see the beauty in everyday life.”