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“In a garden we remove or control undesirable weeds; in my personal sobriety, I remove the things that have been blocking me; and in my home group, by means of group inventory, I do something about the things that cause problems”.

“The sanity I’ve received through work on the Steps is far more than I could have hoped for.”

“We need to be aware not only of our limitations, defects and shortcomings, but also of our strengths, talents and successes.”

“Death isn’t quite as scary as the exhilarating terror of trying to accept life.”

“I believe in today because it is the only day in eternity that belongs to me.”

“Before we can release the spirit from its imprisonment, we must first imprison the spirits in the bottle. We place the bottle on the shelf, place ourselves in the hands of AA as we understand it, and prepare for the adventure of sobriety.”

“I play a responsible role in my own destiny, not just a bit part.”

“I don’t know when it happened, but one day I felt like I belonged in my group of sober guys ... I didn’t have to leave.”

“I am not rich, I am not in good health, and I do not have a job, but AA only promised me sobriety. After thirty-three years in this Fellowship, I am at peace and I am grateful.”

“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.”