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“Emotional balance is very much like balancing on a bicycle -- it is more a matter of what I don’t do than what I do do ... Watch someone balance on a bike. It looks as if it would be difficult, but, in fact, it is a mindless and effortless achievement. Happiness, joy, and freedom are the same, aren’t they?”

“I’m glad we have both conservatives and enthusiasts. They teach us much. The conservative will surely see to it that the AA movement never gets overly organized. But the promoter will continue to remind us of our terrific obligation to the newcomer and to those hundreds of thousands of alcoholics still waiting all over the world to hear of AA.”

“It was long indeed before we knew that AA could surely cross all boundaries of distance, race, creed, or language ... We know now it is only a question of time when every alcoholic in the world will have as good a chance to stay alive and happy as we have had here in America.”

“Alcohol robbed me of my adolescence. But I’ve learned to grow up in AA.”

“As never before the struggle for power, importance, and wealth is tearing civilization apart. Man against man, family against family, group against group, nation against nation.

“Nearly all those engaged in this fierce competition declare that their aim is peace and justice for themselves, their neighbors, and their nations: Give us power and we shall have justice; give us fame and we shall set a great example; give us money and we shall be comfortable and happy. People throughout the world deeply believe that, and act accordingly. On this appalling dry bender, society seems to be staggering down a dead-end road. The stop sign is clearly marked. It says ‘Disaster.’ “What has this got to do with anonymity and Alcoholics Anonymous? “We of AA ought to know. Nearly every one of us has traversed this identical dead-end path ... Then came AA. We faced about and found ourselves on a new high road where the direction signs said never a word about power, fame, or wealth.”

“I can recall that even as a small child I had allergic reactions to certain forms of reality.”

“A friend of mine told me about going to see the Statue of Liberty on a field trip with his grammar school class. He said that as they walked up the long spiral staircase, they all held hands in a line. He couldn't see the person at the beginning or the end of the line but he felt safe. He knew he was connected to the rest of his schoolmates. That's the way it is in AA. We can't see the people at the beginning of the line or the end of the line. But we know they're there -- and we know we're safe.”

“In our Twelve Traditions we have set our faces against nearly every trend in the outside world. “We have denied ourselves personal government, professionalism and the right to say who our members shall be. We have abandoned do-goodism, reform and paternalism. We refuse charitable money and prefer to pay our own way. We will cooperate with practically everybody, yet we decline to marry our Society to anyone. We abstain from public controversy and will not quarrel among ourselves about those things that so rip society asunder -- religion, politics and reform. We have but one purpose: to carry the AA message to the sick alcoholic who wants it. “We take these attitudes not at all because we claim special virtue or wisdom; we do these things because hard experience has told us that we must -- if AA is to survive in the distraught world of today.”

If we dwell on the past or the future, we put ourselves back into the torture chamber. We stop changing. Boredom, pain, and futility take over again. We have been ... We will be ... We no longer are. The 24-hour program disappears. Anxiety, anger, and a desire for revenge replace spiritual experience. Awareness and surrender cease. We are on a dry drunk.”

“The torch of Service did pass from the hands of us who are older to yours, which are younger; it passed to every oncoming generation of those children of the night whose darkness, God willing, shall be banished within the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous all through the bright years which destiny surely holds in store for us.”

“I went to my former employer and made my amends. What started out as one of my worst days -- because I was so scared -- became one of my best days when it was over. Because I had trusted God, my sponsor, and AA that trinity had lifted the weight that was on my shoulders for so long. I felt sober. ”

“Spirituality for me is not a question of feeling good (though feeling good is a feeling I like a whole lot). Instead it is a matter of finding from prayer and meditation, from other people, from meetings -- in short, from all the ‘tools of recovery’ -- the power to do what is good, what is healthy, what brings joy and healing to myself and others.”

“If we’re willing to expose the pages of our lives to the love and understanding of our Higher Power and a fellow alcoholic, we’ll surely know a new freedom and a new happiness. We’ll discover that love is never having to feel alone again; that God’s presence in our lives has become profound; and that the unity of the Fellowship of the spirit can be ours so long as we’re willing to ‘pass it on.’”

“Once upon a time, all AA meetings were held in homes. There weren’t any committees and nobody put up a cent. We hadn’t even a name and founders were unheard of. It was that simple. “Yet we did enjoy one ‘service’ -- a valuable one, too. Wives baked cakes and brewed strong coffee for us alkies huddling together in the front parlors, still terrified that our new program might not work after all. Those wifely dispensations of good cheer smoothed the way and so lightened our burden of doubt.”

“I practice the Twelve Steps of AA every day to the best of my ability. As long as I do that, I will not need to drink, no matter what situation I am faced with.”