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“Whether it was pouring coffee in my home group, or going on a Twelfth-Step call, I entered a new pattern of thinking: I thought not only about myself, but about others.” 

“We need to constantly scrutinize ourselves carefully, in order to make everlastingly certain that we shall always be strong enough and single-purposed enough from within, to relate ourselves rightly to the world without.”

“Often in sobriety, I’ve prayed when I needed to meditate. I’ve yammered at God so much that God can’t get a word in edgewise. (What I practice with people, I cannot help but practice with God.) To me, meditation is simply being quiet and listening for a change. It is buttoning up my lip – and my mind that yaps even when my mouth is shut.”

“I politely invited God to spend the day with me (like a visiting relative or friend), and instantly began a mental dialogue with God ... I realized that in the process of introducing myself to God, I was getting a good look at who I really was.”

“Turn toward that power and ask for help whenever you feel disturbed or afraid, the way a plant turns toward the light.”

“As we better use the ‘language of the heart,’ our communications grow apace: already we find ourselves in safe passage through all those barriers of distance and language, of social distinction, nationality and creed, that so divide the world of our time.”

“I am free to like and enjoy what I have. I don’t need to exhibit my high values by hating my rowboat for not being a yacht, my house for not being a palace, my child for not being a prodigy.”

"May we never forget that we live by the grace of God -- on borrowed time."

“If I try to soar with the eagles, I'm likely to appear more of a turkey.”

“Long before I was a binge drinker, I was a binge thinker. I tended to think incessantly, as if this were an essential part of staying alive. My mind either had no ‘off’ switch, or, if it did, I had no idea where it was.”

“Spiritual awakening ... begins with knowledge and acceptance of the truth about ourselves.”

“Those of us who saw the shadow of the butterfly net overhead are blessed if we get to know that an open mind can save.”

“We believe that any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an AA group provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.”

“Today I have a clearer perspective on what my role as a sponsor is and isn’t. It is to stay sober, be available to listen, share my thoughts, pray for others, and let them live their own lives. It is not to ‘fix’ anyone, get them sober, make them happy, demand they conform, or make their decisions.”

“Two or three years ago the Central Office asked the groups to list their membership rules and send them in. After they arrived we set them all down. They took a great many sheets of paper. A little reflection upon these many rules brought us to an astonishing conclusion. If all of these edicts had been in force everywhere at once, it would have been practically impossible for any alcoholic to have ever joined Alcoholics Anonymous.”