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“While we need not alter our truths, we can surely improve their application to ourselves, to AA as a whole, and to our relation with the world around us. We can constantly step up ‘the practice of these principles in all our affairs.’”

“The fellowship in AA is unique. Ties are made overnight that it would take years to develop elsewhere. No one needs a false front. All barriers are down. Some who have felt outcasts all their lives now know they really belong. From feeling as if they were dragging anchor though life, they suddenly sail free before the wind.”

“I was told that sometimes a good sponsor disturbs the comfortable and comforts the disturbed.”

“It's hard to keep an open mind with an open mouth.”

“Complaining is not an action step.”

“I realize now that most of the problems in my life were a direct result of my attempts to handle my own life, to be in control of my own destiny. I am grateful that today, sober, I can still say my life has ‘become unmanageable.’”

“Things haven’t been all roses but they are certainly not comparable to the way they were. God has blessed me with a vivid memory of my pain, which has helped me ... when the thought of escaping popped into my head.”

“Suffering is no longer a menace to be evaded at any cost. When it does come, no matter how grievously, we realize that it too has its purpose. It is our great teacher because it reveals our defects and so pushes us forward into the paths of progress. The pain of drinking did just this for us. And so can any other pain.”

“There are more amends to be made, letters to be sent, Twelfth Step work to be done, responsibilities to be assumed, and honest talks to be had with loved ones. Life is meant to be lived by facing the challenges it brings. Otherwise, I’m not living, just existing.”

“I’ve found the comfort, love, and support I need to pick up the pieces and try again after my setbacks ... I’m not alone in my journey.”

“I have no idea how I made it this long, or what has kept me sober. But if I were to guess, I’d say that it has something to do with the slogan, ‘Keep coming back -- no matter what.’”

“Laughter is one of God’s greatest and most beneficent gifts to us. Laugh with him sometimes at yourself.”

“Happiness is not a station we arrive at; it’s a way of traveling.”

“Tolerance ... promotes an open-mindedness that is vastly important -- is, in fact, a prerequisite to the successful termination of any line of search, whether it be scientific or spiritual.”

“Pride in my intelligence blinded me to how much I did not know.”