Search

“My daily life is conducted in a manner that is far different from my drinking days. The places I go, the things I do, and the people I am with are a reflection of my spiritual progress. My life is conducted with the knowledge that God is always at my side and guides me through the day. For that, at the end of each day, I say, ‘Thank You.’”

“The future belongs to you.”

“Like other men and women, we AAs look with deep apprehension upon the vast power struggle about us, a struggle in myriad forms that invades every level, tearing society apart. I think we AAs are fortunate to be acutely aware that such forces must never be ruling among us, lest we perish altogether.”

“I am more a woman of action than a woman in reaction, and hope is more present in my life than insecurity ... As much as I was thirsty for alcohol, today I am thirsty for knowledge.”

“From cradle to grave, the drunk and the potential alcoholic will have to be completely surrounded by true and deep understanding and by a continuous barrage of information: the facts about his illness, its symptoms, its grim seriousness. Why should an alcoholic have to wait until he is 55 and be horribly mangled to find out that he is a very sick man, when enough education of the right kind might have convinced him at 30 or 35?”

“The laughter in AA is what attracted me from the very beginning. The restorative power of laughter should never be underestimated ... I have come to believe that I’m being restored to sanity when my sense of humor is restored and I cease to take myself so seriously.”

“AA is more than a set of principles; it is a Society of alcoholics in action. We must carry the message, else we ourselves can wither and those who haven’t been given the truth will die.”

“Because of what I learned in my home group -- to be on time, sit in the front row, thank the speaker, take commitments, pray and meditate -- I’m able to carry the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. It’s important for me to be connected to the love of giving back and the joy of helping others -- chips, cakes, Step work and lots of reaching out.”

“My greatest challenges are before me. But my experience with the Third Step, even in the smallest matters, gives me the courage to meet whatever lies ahead, twenty-four hours at a time.”

“One old-timer explained it this way to me: ‘Don’t let your mind rattle on at meetings. Then all you’ll hear from someone else is something that gets you thinking about what you have to say. Listen to everything the person talking has to say, as if your life depended on it -- because it might one day. Listen to everyone this way, especially the ones you want to ignore,’ this old-timer said. ‘God won’t deprive you of the answer you need, if you’ve come to an AA meeting needing an answer. He may, however, have your answer come out of the mouth of the person you least expect to have your answer. God has a sense of humor.’”

“The simplicity of this program never changes -- what works is constant: trust in God, clean house, and work with others.”

“Through the years, I have read thousands of books and pamphlets, but the Big Book is still the superstar. The love flowing from its pages encourages me to keep the blade of my sobriety ever sharp and gleaming, to cut through all the ignorance and terror that surround still-suffering alcoholics.”

“The things that count cease being those that can be held in the hand and become only what can be held in the heart.”

“It is not the fault of great ideals that they are sometimes misused.”

“In AA we talk a great deal about each other. Provided our motives are thoroughly good, this is not in the least wrong. But damaging gossip is quite something else. Of course, this kind of scuttlebutt can be well grounded in fact. But no such abuse of the facts could ever be twisted into anything resembling integrity. It can't be maintained that this sort of superficial honesty is good for anyone. So the need to examine ourselves is very much with us. Following a gossip binge we can well ask ourselves these questions: ‘Why did we say what we did? Were we only trying to be helpful and informative? Or were we not trying to feel superior by confessing the other fellow's sins? Or, because of fear and dislike, were we not really aiming to damage him?’ This would be an honest attempt to examine ourselves, rather than the other fellow. Here we see the difference between the use of the truth and its misuse. Right here we begin to regain the integrity we had lost.”