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“I spent years looking for things to alienate me, make me different, make me special or unique, better or worse ... I was taught through the Steps to start dwelling on the positive – the ‘alikeness’ instead of the differences.”

“William Duncan Silkworth ... supplied us with the tools with which to puncture the toughest alcoholic ego, those shattering phrases by which he described our illness: the obsession of the mind that compels us to drink and the allergy of the body that condemns us to go mad or die. Without these indispensable passwords, AA could never have worked.”

“Let us continue to take our inventory as a Fellowship, searching out our flaws and confessing them freely. Let us devote ourselves to the repair of all faulty relations that may exist, whether within or without.

“The amount of reality I turn my back on is the amount I lose.”

“I am glad for everything that has happened to me. I have found a way of life that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.”

“Whenever things get hard, or I don’t want to follow through with a suggestion, I simply humble myself to my Higher Power and say, ‘Just for today.’ That helps me live in the moment.”

“The number one way to relieve pain is to forgive.”

“Without much doubt, a million alcoholics have approached AA during the last thirty years. We can soberly ask ourselves what became of the 600,000 who did not stay.”

“I’m learning to smile and laugh again, and I’ve even gotten back some of my self respect ... I still have problems, but AA has taught me how to handle them and not to run from them.”

“Vision is ... the very essence of prudence.”

“The ego of the alcoholic dies a hard death ... fitting and wearing halos is not for us.”

“My new friend asked when I had had my last drink, when I had eaten last, and if I was sleeping indoors that night. He told me his story ... My hope was strengthened even more, and I knew I had found a way to live without booze.”

“I discovered that there really is an easier, softer way – the way of striving to be a part of.”

“It took me a long time to find out that AA wasn’t here to limit my life, it was here to fulfill it.”

“When all else fails, try following directions.”