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"When life presents us with a racking conflict ... we cannot be altogether blamed if we are confused. In fact, our very first responsibility is to admit that we are confused."

"Truth is not an immutable absolute, a granite peak, eternal, unmoving, hiding its head in a nimbus of clouds. Truth is a ballerina tracing arabesques in a pattern of color and music, ever-changing, harmonious."

"The most important factor in eliminating resentments is to know you have them. You can't fix something if you don't know what's wrong."

"By 1937, some of us realized that AA needed a standard literature. There would have to be a book ... Well, we did quarrel violently over the preparation and distribution of that book. In fact, it took five years for the clamor to die down. Should any AAs dream that the old-timers who put the book together went about in serene meditation and white robes, then they had best forget it."

"There have been dark days where a will infinitely greater than my own has been responsible for my sobriety."

"The reason we try to carry the message is so that we stay sober. If the person we are helping stays sober, that's an extra bonus."

"If we can stop this frantic drive to prove that we are remarkable people, it is quite likely that we will settle down and really enjoy whatever life has to offer us."

"Happiness is a by-product – the extra dividend of giving without any demand for a return."

"When you've been lost, lonely, forgotten, rejected, it's the most important thing in the world to have somebody shake your hand."

"The simple act of getting in touch with AA that first time washed out in an instant the dark loneliness that had encompassed my life."

"Neither God nor AA can help us if we are not open to help."

"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."