Search

“Genuine peace will always be a chief ingredient of AA’s freedom. But let none suppose that we shrink from major conflict only because we are afraid. Nowadays we believe we keep the peace because we love each other.”

“Perhaps for some, ‘How It Work’ has become a tired, overworked bit of dogma, an opportunity to daydream. But not for this alcoholic. I get more out of those words with each passing day. The words don’t change, but I do.”

“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.”

“Tomorrow – and all the tomorrows to come – are but extensions of right here, right now.”

“We need to constantly scrutinize ourselves carefully, in order to make everlastingly certain that we shall always be strong enough and single-purposed enough from within, to relate ourselves rightly to the world without.”

“We reject fantasizing and accept reality. And we find it beautiful. For, at last, we are at peace with ourselves. And with others. And with God.”

“When I can identify my own shortcomings in another, the battleground between us is removed.”

“Why dwell on what you can’t do? ... Why not concentrate on what you can do and do it?”

“A religious, or spiritual experience, is the act of giving up reliance on one’s own omnipotence.”

“I was told when I got sober that I could act my way into right thinking, but I could never think my way into right action.”

“I need to remember how humiliated, confused, insecure and frightened I felt at my first meeting, and compare that to how I feel today.”

“Trying to figure it all out in my head brings on waves of fear, anxiety, and self-reproach. So I say, ‘What can I do for myself and others today?’”