"For my sake, as well as the well-being of the women I sponsor, I stay within what I know. I tell them I'm not a mother, sister, favorite aunt, therapist, counselor, guru, spiritual advisor, AA authority, and sometimes not even a friend. I'm just another drunk who didn't drink and didn't die..."

"Though my sobriety had come easy, the growing up business hadn't. Both emotional and spiritual growth have always been mighty difficult for me."

"Times change, people change, and language may change. But the disease of alcoholism does not change. It always kills."

"I've found that I'm not a cordless model: I need to plug into God in the morning and check in several times a day just to make sure I'm still plugged in."

"I make a conscious effort to keep it simple, because the simpler I make it, the happier I become."

"Belonging to a group makes life an opportunity for me ... something to encourage the best in me while it helps to keep me humble about the worst in me."

"Our fellowship has been permitted to achieve -- though still in miniature -- the 'one world' dream of philosophers. Ours is a world in which we can hotly differ, yet never think of schism or conflict as a solution."

"At my very first AA meeting ... I heard words of love, understanding and compassion ... I believe the hand of God reached down at that meeting and healed me. For from that day thirty-eight years ago to this, I have not had a desire to drink or escape from reality again."

"If all I have is a dollar in my pocket and I'm at a meeting, logic tells me to save it for myself for later. If I give it to AA, and have faith in the process, it will come back to me in ways I can't even imagine."

"The bottle never demanded credentials or conformity -- neither has AA."

"We AAs are the best listeners in the world -- that is, when we're not talking!"

"It is tradition among us that the individual has the unlimited right to his own opinion on any subject under the sun. He is compelled to agree with no one; if he likes, he can disagree with everyone."

"Great modesty and humility are needed by every AA for his own permanent recovery. If these virtues are such vital needs to the individual, so must they be to AA as a whole."

"I learned that if I had the capacity to be honest, I would get better."

"I continue to attend AA meetings because anything I know about recovery seems to have a shelf-life of 72 hours."