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“Only the sharing of despair can bring us ... illumination.”

“No matter how truthful the words of my message, there could be no deep communication if what I said and did was colored by pride, arrogance, intolerance, resentment, imprudence, or desire for personal acclaim -- even though I was largely unconscious of these attitudes.”

“Some of us take a long time to ‘come to’ before we can ‘come to believe’ that there is any hope for us.”

“Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.”

“Certainly, we need leaders, but we must regard them as the human agent of the Higher Power and not with undue adulation as individuals.”

“Anonymity is a spiritual foundation not only of Tradition Twelve, but of sobriety itself.”

“Success and failure share a common denominator ... both are temporary.”

“God grant that AA may ever stay simple.”

“Today’s disappointment, viewed six months hence, may turn out to be one of the best breaks we ever got.”

“Coincidences are merely a manner in which God protects his anonymity.”

“If each sufferer were to carry the news of the scientific hopelessness of alcoholism to each new prospect, he might be able to lay every newcomer wide open to a transforming spiritual experience.”

“My desire to drink became a desire not to.”

“We shall always have to deal with the fearful forces which are released when the human ego runs amok -- the same forces that are shattering the world of our time.  Deliver us from temptation must therefore continue to be a prime ingredient of our every attitude, practice, and prayer.”

“By helping to insure the sobriety of others to come, we insure our own sobriety today.”

“Sincerity of purpose, humility in the knowledge of our own power to help, and confidence in our understanding of our capacities in AA are likely to help in working with others.”