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“Only the sharing of despair can bring us ... illumination.”

“No matter how truthful the words of my message, there could be no deep communication if what I said and did was colored by pride, arrogance, intolerance, resentment, imprudence, or desire for personal acclaim -- even though I was largely unconscious of these attitudes.”

“Some of us take a long time to ‘come to’ before we can ‘come to believe’ that there is any hope for us.”

“Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.”

“Certainly, we need leaders, but we must regard them as the human agent of the Higher Power and not with undue adulation as individuals.”

“God grant that AA may ever stay simple.”

“Anonymity is a spiritual foundation not only of Tradition Twelve, but of sobriety itself.”

“Success and failure share a common denominator ... both are temporary.”

“Today’s disappointment, viewed six months hence, may turn out to be one of the best breaks we ever got.”

“Coincidences are merely a manner in which God protects his anonymity.”

“If each sufferer were to carry the news of the scientific hopelessness of alcoholism to each new prospect, he might be able to lay every newcomer wide open to a transforming spiritual experience.”

“My desire to drink became a desire not to.”

“My drinking career was all about running away. I could pack up and vanish in a flash. Now, I can make commitments and become part of something. I can let myself belong.”

“The smile from my face traveled to my heart.”

“My inner feelings boil down to a handful of things – fear, anger, self-pity, shame, and feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem. These are the things we need to talk about in AA.”