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“If it were not for the ‘we’ of AA, there would be no ‘I.’”

“By revealing our secrets and thereby ridding ourselves of guilt we can actually change our thinking and by altering our thinking we can change ourselves. What we will be tomorrow is determined by what we think today.”

“The AA message does not carry itself; somebody must carry it.”

“The most important thing AA has given me is the chance to get to know someone I never knew -- myself.”

“An old-timer once told me that he believed that AA was a great leveler: When you’re up high, your friends help bring you down a little bit. When you’re down low, they help bring you up a little bit.”

“My soul remained a mystery until my Higher Power settled inside me, appearing to me as a very real feeling of love and caring. Kindness slowly took precedence, and I became comfortable with the idea that I didn’t need a drink.”

“Those severe growing pains which invariably follow any radical departure from AA Tradition can be absolutely relied upon to bring an erring group back into line. An AA group need not be coerced by any human government over and above its own members. Their own experience, plus AA opinion in surrounding groups, plus God’s prompting in their group conscience would be sufficient.”

“Sponsorship is a bridge to trusting the human race, the very race we once resigned from. In learning to trust, we are strengthening our sobriety.”

“My sponsor ... gave me some good advice. ‘Take the words success and failure out of your vocabulary. Replace them with honesty and effort.’”

“I make a conscious effort to keep it simple, because the simpler I make it, the happier I become.”

“As an individual I am so small I’m almost totally meaningless in the universe; it’s almost as if I didn’t exist. But not quite ... As small as I am, I’m not totally meaningless.”

“I have learned in the program not to listen to the voice of my ego when it starts whispering things.”

“The most beautiful gifts of my life come to me in packages I do not recognize at first glance. In fact, I often don’t see them until I’ve stumbled over them. Yet I know that when I go about my business in service to AA and to others these gifts will appear, usually in the most unexpected places.”

“I am thankful to God for all that I have, and for all that I don’t have.”

“I have learned to keep quiet when I disagree and to give others freedom to express opinions widely different from my own -- without giving in to the urge to enlighten them. I am grateful for all the voices of AA.”