“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.”

“It has to be love, not government that keeps AA stuck together.”

“I accepted the invitation to go on a Twelfth Step call and I in turn was twelfth-stepped.”

“I am grateful for this minute. My eternity may be in it.”

“No one can express love and self-pity at the same moment; showing concern for others helps us to see how foolish we have been.”

“We cannot wholly rely on friends to solve all our difficulties. A good adviser will never do all our thinking for us. He knows that each final choice must be ours.”

“Our spiritual way of life is safe for future generations if, as a Society, we resist the temptation to receive money from the outside world. But this leaves us with a responsibility – one that every member ought to understand. We cannot skimp when the treasurer of our group passes the hat. Our groups, our areas, and AA as a whole will not function unless our services are sufficient and their bills are paid.”

“Do I really want ... to be bitter, hostile, and judgmental? Do I want to live inside that sort of person? Wouldn’t I rather forgive, make allowances, understand? Is self-pity, feeling abused, so precious that I will not trade it for self-liking?”

“Gratitude is just about the finest attribute we can have.”

“Clear vision for tomorrow comes only after a real look at yesterday.”

“I persist in the face of defeat. I can risk being rejected now, because I no longer have to feel resentful and depressed when it happens.”

“The emotions of an alcoholic can fluctuate much in the manner of weather fronts.”

“By working with others I’m allowed to witness the miracle of sobriety and observe the twinkling eyes as others learn to speak the language of the heart.”

“As drinking alcoholics, we all ran from life and toward death. When we join AA, we reverse the process – we give ourselves to life as it is, rather than as we would like it to be.”

“There is one job that we can do superlatively well, and there isn’t anything that can keep us from doing it if we are serious in wanting to. That is the job we do on ourselves, inside ourselves. It means clearing out a whole mess of false values, unrealistic ambitions, and worn-out resentments, and putting in their place the qualities we want to have – kindness, tolerance, friendliness ... We can begin to see what the real values of life are, and they are very different from the hazy, distorted dreams we had.”