“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.”

We can always come up with a reason to drink. The secret is, how many reasons can we come up with to stay sober?”

“The measure of my sobriety isn’t the distance between now and the last drink -- the measure of my sobriety is the distance between now and the next drink.”

We AAs have had to learn that the kinds of freedom that we must possess cannot possibly be obtained by violence. As a Fellowship, we cannot fight anybody, anywhere or at any time. This has been proved. When we had directly attacked John Barleycorn, we had lost. Booze fighting had never worked. When we quarrel too much with each other, we get drunk.”

“Each night, I think of the Tenth Step and ask myself, ‘Have I, this day, helped more than I’ve harmed? Given more than I’ve taken? Created more than I’ve destroyed?’”

“Nothing could be sadder than to lose touch with ourselves in recovery; to have our connection to our Higher Power blocked by resentment; to be governed by old ideas we are only dimly aware of and that hold us back; or to be reduced by our fears to living sequestered from life. For the sunlight of the spirit to enter, the window must be kept clean so the light can pour through.”

“As of this moment I repose serenely on Cloud 9, being thankful in silent meditation. I know the grim realism of this troubled world will bring me sharply back to earth at any moment, but I pray I may make a safe, happy landing.”

“I know what the temptation of fame and money really is ... I was once a breaker of anonymity myself. I thank God that years ago the voice of experience and the urging of wise friends took me out of that perilous path into which I might have led our entire Society.”

“The slogans are simple things ... these AA tranquilizers do not solve our problems, but they can calm us down, remind us of a better way to proceed, and perhaps even put us in a mood to make better decisions.”

“With the clock ticking like it is, I do not have time for anger, resentment, or self-pity. Time is far too precious.”

“One night, in a moment of desperation, I got down on my knees and remembered a prayer an old sponsor had given me. It said, ‘God, help me be of service ... to something or someone...’ I knew intuitively it was the answer.”

“The temptations of riches could sometimes be worse than the pains of poverty.”

“Seeing my defects is not enough to make them improve or go away -- the solution seems to be following awareness with action.”

“How does one tune in to the Higher Power? The answer I have learned from AA is to recharge my spiritual battery every day -- ‘you can’t pull today’s load with yesterday’s horse.’”

“I found I had to exert every ounce of will and action to cut off these faulty emotional dependencies upon people, upon AA, indeed, upon any set of circumstances whatever. Then only could I be free to love.”