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“The only thing that could chase my disease was the sun rising on a new morning. Just like when I was counting days, and I would wake up and think, Hey, I made it.”

“The essence of all growth is a willingness to change for the better and then an unremitting willingness to shoulder whatever responsibility this entails.”

“I’ve learned that I am not responsible for anyone’s happiness except my own. Most importantly, I learned that true happiness is an inside job.”

“The leap of faith must be taken again and again over greater and greater distances.”

“Compromise comes hard to us ‘all-or-nothing drunks.’ Nevertheless, we must never lose sight of the fact that progress is nearly always characterized by a series of improving compromises.”

“Putting principles before personalities, both inside and outside the Fellowship, does not always endear me to everyone, but I would rather be disliked for what I am than liked for what I am not.”

“It’s true that the only requirement for membership in AA is a desire to stop drinking. But if you absolutely want a better life, well, hmmm ... How’s this? Working the Steps with a sponsor is a really good idea.”

“What is involved in taking the entire AA program, as the early AAs gave it to us, is not the prospect of turning into some sort of repulsive goody-goody. It’s the threat of being truly alive, aware, and perhaps even ecstatic.”

“There is among us AAs the ever present need for further spiritual growth.”

“It has only been in the past few months that I have become interested in service work in AA. Before that, I was an AA barnacle, glued to my seat, criticizing the speakers and griping about the coffee. Now I’m on the other side of the squawks and bleeps, and I find, to my delight, I like it.”

“The future would ... lack its full use and meaning did it not bring us fresh problems and even acute perils – problems and perils through which we can grow into true greatness of action and spirit.”

“What counts is not that which can be held in the hand but that which can be held in the heart.”

“Grace is not a do-it-yourself project.”

“We can achieve no liberation from the alcohol obsession until we become willing to deal with those character defects which have landed us in that helpless condition ... fear, anger, and pride ... rebellion and self-righteousness ... laziness and irresponsibility ... foolish rationalization and outright dishonesty ... wrong dependencies and destructive power-driving.”

“In the nick of time, and by God’s grace, each of us has been enabled to develop a growing sense of the meaning and purpose of his own life.”