“If the day comes that I do drink again, it will not be because I had no alternative. It will be because I had an alternative, provided by a loving God, but was unwilling to use it.”
“I have an AA friend, a good and gentle soul. He recently joined one of the great religious orders, one in which the friars spend many hours a day in contemplation. So my friend has plenty of time to take his inventory. The more he looks, the more unconscious self-deception he finds. And the more astonished he becomes at the elaborate and devious excuse-making machinery by which he had been justifying himself. He has already come to the conclusion that the prideful righteousness of ‘good people’ may often be just as destructive as the glaring sins of those who are supposedly not so good. So he daily looks inward upon himself and then upward toward God, the better to discover just where he stands in this matter of honesty. Out of each of his meditations there always emerges one dead certainty, and this is the fact that he still has a long way to go.”
“We shall often miscalculate the future in whole or in part. But even so, this will be far better than to refuse to think at all.”
“True morality has its inevitable compensations, for when we benefit someone we increase our own happiness.”
“Rigorous action coupled with conscious reflection and human compassion will gain me new opportunities for greater hope and harmony with all those I deal with -- even ones with whom I disagree.”
“When finally my household went quite broke, I woke up to the fact that I hadn't been able to face the prospect of going back to work. So I returned to Wall Street after all. And I have ever since been glad that I did ... Indeed, there was one colossal dividend that resulted directly from my grudging decision to reenter the market place. It was a Wall Street business trip to Akron, Ohio, in 1935, that first brought me face to face with Dr. Bob -- AA's co-founder-to-be. So the birth of AA itself actually hinged on the fact that I had been trying to meet my bread-and-butter responsibilities.”
“Are you willing to be amazed?”
“The little things that happen, the spoken word, the kind smile, the nod of encouragement -- the fellowship that goes with the program -- these things I will never forget.”
“Our alcoholism is a sickness we no longer fear to discuss.”
“I am grateful to AA that I have learned some humility, so when offered help, I can now say, ‘Yes, I can use your assistance.’”
“What has happened in the past is just that -- the past! What I should have done about certain issues no longer matters. What I do now is of greatest concern.”
“Each night I pray that when the alarm clock goes off in the morning, I'll have a spiritual awakening.”
“The ideal of AA, however short we may be of it personally, is a thing of beauty and perfection. It is a Power greater than ourselves which has lifted us out of the quicksand and set us safe on shore.”
“The word ‘anonymous’ has for us an immense spiritual significance. Subtly but powerfully it reminds us that we are always to place principles before personalities; that we have renounced personal glorification in public; that our movement not only preaches, but actually practices a truly humble modesty.”
"“Every August, one of the founding members of my group (a real character, who is jokingly said to be our spiritual leader -- or is it spherical leader?) says that in honor of the eighth month and Tradition Eight, he is offering a special discount on sponsorship for anyone who needs it.
“Sometimes people take him up on the offer, but a good proportion of them cancel during the introductory trial period. Of course, this is all said in jest at our meetings, and we get a good laugh out of it.”"
