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“You never know until you go out to meet it what any given day is going to be, but the way you go to meet it surely makes a difference.”

“I have had to face my past, one episode at a time, and become willing to look at the truth. I could feel the pain and fear, like trolls under the bridge, waiting to jump out and challenge my self-esteem.”

“’Absolute humility would consist of a state of complete freedom from myself, freedom from all the claims that my defects of character now lay so heavily upon me. Perfect humility would be a full willingness, in all times and places, to find and to do the will of God.’”

“Some days I feel almost normal, almost sane.”

“I believe anyone can be helped if they have an honest desire to stop drinking. I’m living proof.”

“I could do something about changing my own thoughts, but nothing about changing the people around me.”

“I do not need to make amends on my hands and knees; I need to walk tall, without false pride. When I go in humility and sincerely ask people to forgive me, this will remove the burden from my shoulders.”

“Habits are like cork or lead -- they tend to keep you up or hold you down.”

“Alcoholism is relieved of its power when honesty, open-mindedness, and willingness combine within me to change my question from ‘Why?’ to ‘How?’ Then, I can get into the stream of life and out of my own way.”

“We began to see adversity as a God-given opportunity to develop the kind of courage which is born of humility, rather than bravado. Thus we were enabled to accept ourselves, our circumstances, and our fellows.”

“I no longer always have to be right.”

“Compromise comes hard to us ‘all-or-nothing drunks.’ Nevertheless, we must never lose sight of the fact that progress is nearly always characterized by a series of improving compromises.”

“Putting principles before personalities, both inside and outside the Fellowship, does not always endear me to everyone, but I would rather be disliked for what I am than liked for what I am not.”

“It’s true that the only requirement for membership in AA is a desire to stop drinking. But if you absolutely want a better life, well, hmmm ... How’s this? Working the Steps with a sponsor is a really good idea.”

“What is involved in taking the entire AA program, as the early AAs gave it to us, is not the prospect of turning into some sort of repulsive goody-goody. It’s the threat of being truly alive, aware, and perhaps even ecstatic.”