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“The day came when the members of AA started giving me compliments on how I was doing and the smiles I returned were genuine because I knew I was in fact doing better. I could finally face the woman in the mirror and smile and be absolutely overwhelmed by the gratitude toward God and the members of AA.”

“I can remember ... how the agonies of alcoholism, the pain of rebellion and thwarted pride, have often led me to God’s grace, and so to a new freedom.”

“The day we begin working the Steps, the bottom becomes the foundation.”

“Faith is never a necessity for AA membership ... sobriety can be achieved with an easily acceptable minimum of it ... our concepts of a higher power and God as we understand him afford everyone a nearly unlimited choice of spiritual belief and action.”

“I am easier led by example than ordered to obey. I am grateful to those who have shown me how [Tradition Two] works. Being a trusted servant is humbling. Being an equal part of a spiritual whole is enriching.”

“The Twelve Traditions were slowly evolved during an era when large-scale publicity was causing new groups to spring up like popcorn on a hot griddle. Many a power-driven ego ran hog-wild among us in those days, and it was the Traditions which finally brought order, coherence, and effective functioning out of the noisy anarchy which for a time threatened us with collapse.”

“I found a new definition of sanity. It was bigger than any definition I had heard concerning Step Two, but it was also bigger and better than my wildest imaginings. This sanity offered serenity, a feeling of wellness or well-being, possession of a center of balance from which to operate, and a feeling that my place in this world was just right.”

“Each group, as well as each individual, is a special entity, not quite like any other ... each group does have its own special atmosphere, its own peculiar state of development.”

“What keeps me sober and serene is the very act of letting go of resentments, self-pity, fear of others, and whatever else keeps my thoughts going in circles about myself.”

“The sensation of fitting in for someone who has always felt like an outsider is an exquisitely rare feeling.”

“We are masterworks, all lovingly created by God’s hands. Whether our colors are vivid or subtle, whether the design is boldly abstract or serenely pastoral is not our choice. Ours is only to accept this work of art as given -- to strive to reveal our true colors and the beauty of our true design in everything we say and think and do.”

“Never should we be lulled into complacent self-satisfaction by the wide acclaim and success that is everywhere ours. This is the subtle temptation which could stagnate us today, perchance disintegrate us tomorrow. We have always rallied to meet and transcend failure and crisis. Problems have been our stimulants. How well, though, shall we be able to meet the problems of success?”

“Not drinking is the first requirement for joy; the second requirement is gratitude.”

“For me, there is a direct coupling of the Tenth Step and Step Two. The more sanity, the quicker the admission that I am wrong. It is much easier today to get rid of an overreaction at the thought level before it becomes a spoken word and then a physical act. “Now I can see that sanity is steadily being restored to me so that I can use the other Steps to greater advantage.”

“There will be love and laughter and a delicious sense of well-being down deep inside if you will abandon yourself to the business of recovery -- not just recovery from the disease of active alcoholism, but deeper than that, recovery from a former self.”