“We are not a sociological entity, although sociologists find us fascinating. We are not a therapy group, although remarkable healing takes place among us. And we are not a religion, even though some people want to see us as such ... We are a spiritual entity.”
“AA is not a separate country, cut off from the mainland of the real world; it is the schoolroom I missed somewhere along the line ... a treasure house of other people’s experience, strength and hope.”
“I have learned in the program not to listen to the voice of my ego when it starts whispering things.”
“The most beautiful gifts of my life come to me in packages I do not recognize at first glance. In fact, I often don’t see them until I’ve stumbled over them. Yet I know that when I go about my business in service to AA and to others these gifts will appear, usually in the most unexpected places.”
“I am thankful to God for all that I have, and for all that I don’t have.”
“I have learned to keep quiet when I disagree and to give others freedom to express opinions widely different from my own -- without giving in to the urge to enlighten them. I am grateful for all the voices of AA.”
“Groups change, just like people do, and we AAs fight change. Although we can never go back to the way it once was, we will survive -- yea, even thrive -- as long as we remember Tradition Five, ‘Each Alcoholics Anonymous group ought to be a spiritual entity having but one primary purpose -- that of carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.’”
"“This issue of the Grapevine marks the anniversary of its founding exactly fifteen [now seventy] years ago.
“The memory of some of those first editorial meetings will linger with me always. Seated around a table in a tiny cheerless room some place downtown, the founders pored over their freshly written copy for the first issues. In those days the enthusiastic founders did everything. Not only did they do the art work, write the bulk of the stories, they kept the books, they paid the printing bill, they typed the address on each copy and finally licked all the stamps. So went the happy monthly paroxysm of creating what was to become the principal monthly journal of our whole society.
“Today 35,000 readers [now over 100,000 across multiple media platforms] see mirrored in each issue of the AA Grapevine a monthly vision of the worldwide thought, feeling and activity of our whole fellowship. It is our great means of inter-communication; a magic carpet on which each of you can ride to the more distant reaches and watch new brothers and sisters emerge from darkness into light.
“On this happy occasion I send my warmest affection to Grapevine readers and staff alike. May God prosper the Grapevine always.”"
“I don’t know when it happened, but one day I felt like I belonged in my group of sober guys ... I didn’t have to leave.”
“I am not rich, I am not in good health, and I do not have a job, but AA only promised me sobriety. After thirty-three years in this Fellowship, I am at peace and I am grateful.”
“A little voice deep inside me said, ‘Hello, I am here.’ It was a small voice, and sounded as if it were buried underneath the cushions of my couch. It was my soul ... I had forgotten it.”
“I opened up the imaginary closet in my mind where I kept all the well-nurtured hurts and tossed them into my past, where they belonged. Into this newly cleaned-out space, I started storing my goals and the hopes and dreams of what I wanted to achieve in life.”
“In AA, we slowly learn to stop stewing in our own juice and to start loving other people.”
“I am grateful today that God’s voice is stronger and surer than my occasional negative whispers, comforting me through difficult times, letting me know that I am part of the whole.”
“No self-pity, no anger, no jealousy, no hate. What had this program done to me?”
