“For so long as we speak and try to perfect the language of love -- for just so long may we count upon making whatever rendezvous with destiny that God would have us.”

“Having an honest relationship with my sponsor allowed me an honest relationship with myself and others.”

“I used to be a champ at unrealistic self-appraisal. I wanted to look only at the part of my life which seemed good.”

“As I’ve moved along in sobriety, I’ve learned that I cannot change others, only myself. So I did that and got healthier.”

“Life in contented sobriety seems to be a matter of looking at the reality of myself in my attitudes, actions, and character rather than trying to run away from it.”

“Surrender has nothing to do with giving up. It means to stop fighting.”

“Pain is one of our greatest teachers. Though I still find it difficult to accept today’s pain and anxiety with any degree of serenity -- as those more advanced in the spiritual life seem able to do -- I can, if I try hard, give thanks for present pain nevertheless.”

“New people are the lifeblood of AA. I am eternally grateful to them. By extension I am, therefore, grateful to Tradition Three for making it possible for all who want what we have to come to AA.”

“If you haven’t been to a meeting for a while, come, and add to the mix ... we need you. Come for yourself, come for the Fellowship, come to celebrate sobriety, and come for the alcoholic who still suffers.”

“We are losing all fear of those violent emotional storms which sometimes cross our alcoholic world; perhaps it bespeaks our confidence that every storm will be followed by a calm; a calm which is more understanding, more compassionate, more tolerant than any we ever knew before.”

“In AA, we discover that it is impossible to give without receiving, or receive without giving.”

“I can’t imagine anything that would make me so mad, glad, or sad that I would want to go back to what I was before AA.”

“My emotional bottom came in sobriety ... I actually had to sit and feel all those feelings I had worked so hard to drown out with alcohol.”

“I’m better able to love people when the storm of my judgmental mind settles, when I understand and empathize rather than criticize and condemn.”

“As AA grows, it is impossible to know everyone, but if I try to relate myself with just one other person, something will happen, something remarkable.”