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“Well-remembered is the comfort I used to take from an exaggerated belief in my own honesty ... I was so absurdly proud of my business standards that I never failed to whip up a fine contempt for those of my fellow Wall-Streeters who were prone to short-change their customers. This was arrogant enough, but the ensuing self-deception proved even worse. My prized business honesty was presently converted into a comfortable cloak under which I could hide the many serious flaws that beset other departments of my life. Being certain of this one virtue, it was easy to conclude that I had them all. For years on end, this prevented me from taking a good look at myself.”

“We now know that we shall always practice these principles: first because we must, then because we ought to, and finally because the majority of us will deeply want to do just that.”

“I write my goals and priorities in pencil, so I can erase them. This is not so I can sell myself short, but so I can strive for more ambitious outcomes. Recovery is a lifelong process; the moment I engrave in stone my blueprint for living, I’ll rediscover and recover something that is paramount to the value of my life. And then I’ll be looking for a new stone.”

“I don’t foresee outgrowing my need for help.”

“Thelma told me that, no matter how much I feared making bad decisions, I could not learn how to make good decisions except by making decisions. ‘You’ll make mistakes,’ she said, ‘We all do. You will make some bad decisions before you learn how to make good ones. But what is true about good decisions is also true about bad ones: You will always learn from the consequences.’”

“How life looks to me depends on how I look at it. While this sounds simple, just like everything else in Alcoholics Anonymous, it requires continual practice in order to get good at it. I get better at it as each year passes. I am grateful that Alcoholics Anonymous is teaching me how to see straight, one day at a time.”

“In AA, we slowly learn to stop stewing in our own juice and to start loving other people.”

“I am grateful today that God’s voice is stronger and surer than my occasional negative whispers, comforting me through difficult times, letting me know that I am part of the whole.”

“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.”

“When I step out under the stars at night, they no longer seem cold or far away. They are a part of me and I am a part of them.”

“Experience has taught us that simplicity is basic in preservation of our personal sobriety and helping those in need.”

“Service made me feel useful. Twelfth Step work taught me to accept my past.”

“I heard my future told around the tables at my home group.”

“It feels good to be trusted.”

“Serenity is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.”