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“To be happily sober, we must be active -- and this does not necessarily mean group activity. The Loner is part of a much larger group of people in far distant places, all members of AA with the same problems, fears, and happiness to be shared ... I may not be in face-to-face contact with other AA members, but my real friends in AA are too many to enumerate, and I find there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all I should.”

“To be happily sober, we must be active -- and this does not necessarily mean group activity. The Loner is part of a much larger group of people in far distant places, all members of AA with the same problems, fears, and happiness to be shared ... I may not be in face-to-face contact with other AA members, but my real friends in AA are too many to enumerate, and I find there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all I should.”

"“Should our present success continue, people will commence to assert that AA is a brand new way of life, maybe a new religion, capable of saving the world. We shall be told it is our bounden duty to show modern society how it ought to live ... 

“Fortunately most of us are convinced that these are perilous speculations, alluring ingredients of that new heady wine we are now being offered, each bottle marked ‘Success’!

“Of this subtle vintage may we never drink too deeply.”"

“Should our present success continue, people will commence to assert that AA is a brand new way of life, maybe a new religion, capable of saving the world. We shall be told it is our bounden duty to show modern society how it ought to live ...
“Fortunately most of us are convinced that these are perilous speculations, alluring ingredients of that new heady wine we are now being offered, each bottle marked ‘Success’!
“Of this subtle vintage may we never drink too deeply.”

“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.”

“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.”

"“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.”"

“Some people think God made life just for happiness, but I find myself unable to share that view. I think he made life for growth and that he permits pain as the touchstone of it all. Happiness -- at the very least, satisfaction -- is a byproduct of really trying to grow. And seasons of real joy are but the occasional byproducts of the process. Which, in eternity, will be the eventual fulfillment. Meantime, we seem to be pilgrims on a road -- one which you and I are completely confident leads into the arms of God.”

"Some people think God made life just for happiness, but I find myself unable to share that view. I think he made life for growth and that he permits pain as the touchstone of it all. Happiness -- at the very least, satisfaction -- is a byproduct of really trying to grow. And seasons of real joy are but the occasional byproducts of the process. Which, in eternity, will be the eventual fulfillment. Meantime, we seem to be pilgrims on a road -- one which you and I are completely confident leads into the arms of God."

“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 the beginning of the line or the end of the line. But we know they're there -- and we know we're safe.”

“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 the beginning of the line or the end of the line. But we know they're there -- and we know we're safe.”

“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 the beginning of the line or the end of the line. But we know they're there -- and we know we're safe.”

“Now that we no longer patronize bars and bordellos; now that we bring home the pay checks; now that we are so very active in AA; and now that people congratulate us on these signs of progress -- well, we naturally proceed to congratulate ourselves. Yet we may not be within hailing distance of humility. Meaning well, yet doing badly, how often have I said or thought, ‘I am right and you are wrong,’ ‘My plan is correct and yours is faulty,’ ‘Thank God your sins are not my sins,’ ‘You are hurting AA and I'm going to stop you cold,’ ‘I have God's guidance, so He is on my side.’ And so on, indefinitely. “The alarming thing about such pride-blindness is the ease with which it is justified.”

“My self-analysis has frequently been faulty. Sometimes I've failed to share my defects with the right people; at other times, I've confessed their defects, rather than my own; and at still other times, my confession of defects has been more in the nature of loud complaints about my circumstances and my problems. “Nevertheless, I think I've usually been able to make a fairly thorough and searching job of finding and admitting my personal defects ... Yet this pretty well-ventilated condition is nothing for self-congratulation. Long ago I was lucky enough to see that I'd have to keep up my self-analysis or else blow my top completely. Though driven by stark necessity, this continuous self-revelation -- to myself and to others -- was rough medicine to take. But years of repetition has made this job far easier.”

“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. “At the group level, this might mean: 1) ensuring that the message being presented today is as good as the message that was here when we first needed it; 2) seeing to it that everyone coming through the door is given the chance to hear firsthand exactly what it is all about from persons with quality sobriety; and 3) making it known that a group is not interested in outside gobbledegook that has nothing to do with sobriety. “We can't be all things to all people, so let's do the thing we do best and that is carry the message of recovery from alcohol.”