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“Life’s formidable array of pains and problems will require many different degrees of acceptance ... Sometimes, we have to find the right kind of acceptance for each day. Sometimes, we need to develop acceptance for what may come to pass tomorrow and, yet again, we shall have to accept a condition that may never change. Then, too, there frequently has to be a right and realistic acceptance of grievous flaws within ourselves and serious faults within those about us – defects that may not be fully remedied for years, if ever.”

“With a recovering alcoholic, action has to come before understanding and faith ... We have to act our way to right thinking, rather than the reverse.”

“I must continue to see my own kinship with whatever God is identifiable, just as relentlessly as I work to make each minute a sober one.”

“The alcoholic slip is not a symptom of a psychotic condition. There’s nothing screwy about it at all. The patient simply didn’t follow directions.”

“I accepted the invitation to go on a Twelfth Step call and I in turn was twelfth-stepped.”

“It has to be love, not government that keeps AA stuck together.”

“I am grateful for this minute. My eternity may be in it.”

“Our spiritual way of life is safe for future generations if, as a Society, we resist the temptation to receive money from the outside world. But this leaves us with a responsibility – one that every member ought to understand. We cannot skimp when the treasurer of our group passes the hat. Our groups, our areas, and AA as a whole will not function unless our services are sufficient and their bills are paid.”

“I have never mastered the art of self-sponsorship, and I doubt that I ever will.”

“The whole world became mine when I had nowhere else to go.”

“What unites all members on the program is a common sincerity. We are all seeking the truth; we are trying for honesty. In practice, any useful conception of God must relate to this idea of truth. Some people would say that God is truth -- no more and no less.”

“One of the truly great gifts in this Fellowship of mutually concerned people is the gift of the art of listening.”

“There are no shibboleths in AA. We are not bound by theological doctrine ... We are many minds in our organization.”

“After endless voting on a title for the new work we had decided to call it The Way Out. But inquiry by Fritz M., our Maryland alcoholic, at The Library of Congress disclosed the fact that 12 books already bore that title. Surely we couldn't make our book the 13th. So we named it Alcoholics Anonymous instead! Though we didn't know it, our movement then got its name -- a name which because of the implication of humility and modesty has given us our treasured spiritual principle of anonymity.”

“Our AA Traditions are, we trust, securely anchored in those wise precepts: charity, gratitude, and humility. Nor have we forgotten prudence. May these virtues ever stand clear before us in our meditations.”