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“Everyone must agree that we AAs are unbelievably fortunate people; fortunate that we have suffered so much; fortunate that we can know, understand and love each other so supremely well ... Indeed most of us are well aware that these are rare gifts which have their true origin in our kinship born of a common suffering and a common deliverance by the Grace of God.”

“I am learning, when looking for signs of spiritual awakening in myself, to look, not for bright lights or emotional upheavals ... but for sobriety, stability, responsibility, meaning, satisfaction, joy. These are the marks of the beginning of spiritual awakening.”

“It’s important to monitor my thinking, to be conscious of what thoughts I’m hugging to my heart, inviting to stay in my mind, encouraging to hang around my head.”

“The beginning of maturing for me was becoming willing to try to face the realities of my own life, a day at a time, and letting go of my childhood fantasies of living happily ever after in a perfect world made up of perfect people.”

“Not until I became aware that God’s delay is not necessarily God’s denial of prayer, was I willing to let a Power greater than myself determine how and when I was to receive the things I truly needed, rather than the things for which I howled.”

"Let us always love the best in others, and never fear their worst."

"We should always realize that change does not necessarily spell progress. We are sure that each new group of workers in world service will be tempted to try all sorts of innovations that may often produce little more than a painful repetition of earlier mistakes ... And if mistaken departures are nevertheless made, these Concepts may then provide a ready means of safe return to an operating balance that might otherwise take years of floundering to rediscover."

“There has to be something to be grateful for if I am only willing to change my attitude and look for it.”

“It took two years to learn that I wasn't getting anywhere because I was always in such a hurry.”

“Demands, hopes, yearnings, and desires tie us to the static horror and the utter futility of the forever departed past and the never-arriving future. To want nothing – to know that we cannot make anything happen – brings inner and outer joy, total fulfillment.”

“There was no use in my wondering why or when I became an alcoholic for the very simple reason that it wouldn’t change my condition; even if I did find the answer, I would still be an alcoholic.”

“Whenever I am gripped by fear of an unknown future and all my projections are negative, I do what my sponsor directed me to do. I wriggle my toes and come back into the safety of the moment.”

“Tomorrow is never ours until it becomes today.”

“These days I find that nothing is as precious as my sanity. I used to be addicted to drama and could only function on excitement and high levels of adrenaline. It’s very different today ... It’s all very ordinary and average and sane, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

“My drinking career was all about running away. I could pack up and vanish in a flash. Now ... I’m taking the risk to stick around, to just show up and see what happens.”