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“I realized that I had not been the actual author of the Traditions. I had merely mirrored principles which had already been hammered out on thousands of anvils of AA group experience.”

“God never gives me more than I can handle, but sometimes he takes me right to the edge.”

“The great gratitude I’ve always felt made it possible to connect the miracles in my life and so many others’ with surrender to the Steps and the practice of their principles. One day, I simply heard myself talking about Step Three to a new ‘baby,’ and I knew I believed what I was saying.”

“I’m learning the freedom that comes with facing my problems fearlessly and without resistance. They are not all resolved, but I’ve done my part. God will take it from there.”

“The parent who overstays his time can only hamper the growth of his offspring. This I must not do. My proper place will soon be along the sidelines, cheering you newer ones as you carry on.”

“Through the Twelve Steps I was shown how to sweep aside the primacy of concern with self, to discard the selfishness and arrogance that stood in the way. All these were obstacles to love, and as I began to learn to turn my life and will over to God as I understood him, the first faint glimmerings of humility began to appear.”

“From the very first time I stepped into this room and joined this circle of chairs, I felt a powerful spirit. Each time I return here I feel this spirit and the beginning of a wonderful feeling of peace.”

“I can say no to a lot of things I’m not interested in. All the people-pleasing activities I used to engage in, I can cut out now. That gives me time to do the truly helpful, gut-warming little things, just because they need doing and I truly care. I have time to work my program.”

“In early sobriety, I remember moaning to another member about how I didn’t have a relationship, I didn’t have a new car, and I didn’t have a flashy job. He replied: ‘It takes a steady hand to hold a full cup.’”

“As early as 1945, mediating and giving suggestions by mail for the solution of group problems had put a tremendous volume of work on Headquarters. With most of the metropolitan AA centers, correspondence files had grown six inches thick. Seemingly, every contestant in every group argument at every point of the compass wrote us in this period.”

“AA and my Higher Power have transformed me from a complex person who lived out of her head to a simple person who is trying to live out of her heart.”

"AA and my Higher Power have transformed me from a complex person who lived out of her head to a simple person who is trying to live out of her heart.”

"A sincere attempt to exercise the first ten Steps brings into play some of the finest virtues in the human character: humility, hope, faith, honesty, courage, and sincerity."

"Keeping a Tenth Step journal about my day-to-day life, my relations with other people, and the stuff that still roiled around in my head helped me see patterns in my thoughts and behavior, which I could discuss with my sponsor. And once I began to sit quietly, reflect on what I'd written, and pray, I began to sleep peacefully for the first time in my life."

"My understanding of a Higher Power is still subject to shifts. Sometimes, I think of it as The Unknowable, or as The Great What Is. Often, I envision it as an indifferent force, something like an electrical current, that is available to all living things and from which human beings can derive strength and generosity and acceptance. The one thing I feel sure of is that it's more powerful than my will."