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"I was relieved to learn that I didn't have to believe, only be willing to believe. This I could do."

"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."

"I need to constantly inch forward in AA, closer to the center, to avoid being thrown from the spinning wheel that is my life."

"I was attracted to AA because it excluded no one, and I am grateful for the lessons I've learned over the years: that we stop fighting anyone or anything; that it is the details of what I do that make me who I am; that my perception of life is ever-changing and evolving; that the basic 'suggestions' I heard when I entered the Fellowship have been a continuous part of my life; that as long as I stay an active member of AA, more will be revealed."

"There are always the constructive critics, our friends indeed. We should never fail to give them a careful hearing."

"Serenity and peace of mind are a direct result of accepting our lives as they are at this moment, and all the money in the world cannot purchase this kind of peace."

"Emotional and instinctual satisfactions, I saw, were really the extra dividends of having love, offering love, and expressing a love appropriate to each relation of life."

"When I look into the eyes of the person next to me and ask, 'How are you?', I will take the time to listen. I want to keep in mind that at any given time, each of us may need the same love and support as someone who is attending their first meeting."

"Every recovery, though it may go unnoticed, improves the world in some way."

“Let it never be said that the spiritual way is a cowardly or escapist approach to life. On the contrary, it requires maximum diligence and persistence to seek divine guidance when all the evidence of our eyes and ears tries to tell us that life is largely physical, intellectual and emotional.”

“I used to think that having a pint was the only way to have fun; now I know that, for me, it's the only way to destroy the fun that I'm having!”

“As I trudge the Road of Happy Destiny, AA holds my left hand, God holds my right, and I have no hands left to pick up a drink.”

“I learned ... that I was a sick man emotionally and physically. As every AA today knows, this knowledge can be an enormous relief. I no longer needed to consider myself essentially a fool or a weakling.”

“The word powerless ... described my situation with alcohol perfectly and completely. My life was more than unmanageable, it was illegal.”

“Each of us must conform reasonably well to AA’s Steps and Traditions, or else we shall go mad or die of alcoholism.”