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“I’m not here to change Alcoholics Anonymous; Alcoholics Anonymous is here to change me.”

“If we follow our Traditions, we will survive and, I hope, grow. The Traditions tell us to serve—not govern; to attract—not promote; to carry the message—not force it on anyone; to keep the three legacies alive: recovery, unity, and service. These are our lifelines.”

“Last summer I visited the Akron cemetery where Bob and Anne lie. Their simple stone says never a word about Alcoholics Anonymous. This made me so glad I cried.”

“I have learned through crises and through joy.”

“Nothing seems to help me more than being reminded where I came from, and the kind of person I used to be while under the influence of alcohol -- that sad, fearful, undependable sort of person I will become again, unless I start to focus on my needs instead of my wants.”

“Even in self-protection, we do not wish to erect the slightest barrier between ourselves and the fellow alcoholic who still suffers. We know that society has been demanding that he conform to its laws and conventions. But the essence of his alcoholic malady is the fact that he has been unable or unwilling to conform either to the laws of man or God. If he is anything, the sick alcoholic is a rebellious nonconformist. How well we understand that.”

“Today I can look upon myself and others with understanding, acceptance, forgiveness, and love ... Recovery is a wonderland.”

“From the cradle to the grave there is always something wrong somewhere, something to rob us of enjoying perfection, something to bother us. When we put one thing right, another will surely go wrong sooner or later. So it behooves us to enjoy every minute we can, for a minute lost is a minute gone forever.”

“There are occasions for me when I am not thinking about myself and my own reactions to events or circumstances, but have my attention fully occupied by tasks, ideas, scenes, or another person. And when I recollect these occasions, I find that they have been my happiest.”

“Worry saps me of the energy that I need for today.”

“Acceptance doesn’t mean I have to condone a particular situation, it simply means I can better assess what is going on around me without the filters of my past and without comparison to what I would consider a more ideal circumstance.”

“Now that we no longer patronize bars and bordellos; now that we bring home the paychecks; 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.”

“In AA I learned to take the risk of being real.”

“A leader must realize that even very prideful or angry people can sometimes be dead right, when the calm and the more humble are quite mistaken.

“These points are practical illustrations of the kinds of careful discrimination and soul-searching that true leadership must always try to exercise.”

“I must learn to open my mind as well as my eyes.”