“My desire to drink became a desire not to.”

“My drinking career was all about running away. I could pack up and vanish in a flash. Now, I can make commitments and become part of something. I can let myself belong.”

“The smile from my face traveled to my heart.”

“My inner feelings boil down to a handful of things – fear, anger, self-pity, shame, and feelings of inadequacy and low self-esteem. These are the things we need to talk about in AA.”

“You’ve got one life to live. Don’t screw it up with a lot of maybes, what-ifs, and could-have-beens. Focus on what you have.”

“When I call my sponsor, my friends, someone on my home group’s phone list, or someone who scribbled their number on a napkin after a meeting, I make progress ... If we just call, we help one another stay sober, one call at a time, one connection at a time.”

“Like every AA member I have a definite responsibility to become a citizen of the world around me; to channel into it the experience of living and working which has been mine in our Fellowship.”

“Not picking up a drink creates infinite possibilities for me ... When I wake up in the morning I pray for what I need to get through the day sober. I also smile and say to myself, Who knows? This could be the greatest day of my life!”

“My group included almost every type of alcoholic that old-timers feared most ... The amazing thing is most of us stayed sober, despite all the dire predictions. Why? Because the two things we had in common were more important than all our differences. We were alcoholics and we believed in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous.”

“If faith without works is dead, willingness without action is fantasy.”

“Experience has taught us that simplicity is basic in preservation of our personal sobriety and helping those in need.”

“By whatever name we may call it, the spirit of Christmas is in us all. How best to give and how to receive with ever more gratitude is our common aim. We'd like to practice the spirit of Christmas the year around. Therefore, we shall especially ask ourselves at this season: ‘What more can we find in order that we shall have more to give?’”

“I heard my future told around the tables at my home group.”

“Service made me feel useful. Twelfth Step work taught me to accept my past.”

“It feels good to be trusted.”