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“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.”

"We found that each of us had to make willing sacrifices ... for the common welfare."

“The spirit of AA has been with me ... for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health.”

“The deception of others is nearly always rooted in the deception of ourselves.”

“Truth is to inner space what sunshine is to a garden.”

“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.”