Search

“The word powerless ... described my situation with alcohol perfectly and completely. My life was more than unmanageable, it was illegal.”

“Each of us must conform reasonably well to AA’s Steps and Traditions, or else we shall go mad or die of alcoholism.”

“If it were not for the ‘we’ of AA, there would be no ‘I.’”

“By revealing our secrets and thereby ridding ourselves of guilt we can actually change our thinking and by altering our thinking we can change ourselves. What we will be tomorrow is determined by what we think today.”

“The actual experience of turning myself inside out for the first time in the presence of an AA member left me drained and numb; but when feeling started to come back, I found that I had changed. For the first time in my AA experience, I could feel the sunshine of God’s love on my wounds, and true peace of mind.”

“I cannot adequately describe how light I feel since I took the Fifth Step, and how soundly I sleep.”

“The rewards of asking for help – increased humility, connection, and trust – are well worth the effort.”

“We shall never be at our best except when we hew only to the primary spiritual aim of AA. That of carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers alcoholism.”

“Good things increase in direct proportion to my willingness to become teachable.”

“All AA progress can be reckoned in terms of just two words: humility and responsibility.”

“It is our experience as alcoholics that makes us of unique value ... We can approach sufferers as no one else can.”

"Only mutual trust can be the foundation for great love -- each of us for the other, and all of us for God.”

“It’s not the wonderful people I’ve met from throughout these great lands who have helped keep me sober most of the time, but those wonderful people sitting around the table in my hometown who loved me when I could not love, who waited for me to quit lying, who tolerated me when I would be part of nothing, and who never asked me to leave when I was obnoxious. Because of their love and patience, I was able to get outside of myself and make some sort of commitment to the group.”

"Change is scary, even if it promises a better life."

“As we listen to one another’s anxieties and problems, we understand that it’s not what’s happening to you ... it is how you cope with it, survive it, and don’t give up and drink over it ... dashed career hopes, unrequited love, crippling disease, poverty, approaching death. Together we face it, equipped only with the vast, previously undiscovered resources of power within us, which faced and conquered alcoholism for us.”