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“What has happened in the past is just that -- the past! What I should have done about certain issues no longer matters. What I do now is of greatest concern.”

“Our alcoholism is a sickness we no longer fear to discuss.”

“I am grateful to AA that I have learned some humility, so when offered help, I can now say, ‘Yes, I can use your assistance.’”

“Each night I pray that when the alarm clock goes off in the morning, I'll have a spiritual awakening.”

“AA recovery cannot be bought and sold, but more than once I've wished I could just send a monthly check instead of practicing those principles. Just making donations seems an easier, softer way, doesn't it?”

“The question arises of just what constitutes an amend. Many of us find that the old rationalization, ‘If I stay sober, that’s amends enough to those I have hurt,’ just doesn’t work. We have to be willing to go further.”

“Every August, one of the founding members of my group (a real character, who is jokingly said to be our spiritual leader -- or is it spherical leader?) says that in honor of the eighth month and Tradition Eight, he is offering a special discount on sponsorship for anyone who needs it.

Sometimes people take him up on the offer, but a good proportion of them cancel during the introductory trial period. Of course, this is all said in jest at our meetings, and we get a good laugh out of it.”

“A friend of mine told me about going to see the Statue of Liberty on a field trip with his grammar school class. He said that as they walked up the long spiral staircase, they all held hands in a line. He couldn't see the person at the beginning or the end of the line but he felt safe. He knew he was connected to the rest of his schoolmates. That's the way it is in AA. We can't see the people at either end of the line. But we know they're there -- and we know we're safe.”

“Practicing the Eleventh Step, along with reworking all the other Steps, has given me greater integrity and strengthened my sobriety. This is the kind of dependence I need: a healthy dependence on the Twelve Steps.”

“Growing pains are never to be feared, provided I am willing to learn the truth about myself from them.”

“I may be a Loner but I am never alone spiritually. For this, I am deeply grateful.”

“I spent the first thirty years making a mess of the life I was given, the next thirty trying to figure out this simple program, and now I can try in the last thirty to loosen up, let life happen, and try to have a little fun.”

“No self-pity, no anger, no jealousy, no hate. What had this program done to me?”

“As individuals, we can carry the AA experience and ideas into any outside field whatever, provided that we guard anonymity and refuse to use the AA name for money-raising or publicity purposes.”

“Sobriety -- freedom from alcohol -- through the teaching and practice of the Twelve Steps, is the sole purpose of an AA group.”