“Not drinking is the first requirement for joy; the second requirement is gratitude.”

“Not only ... could spiritual experiences make people saner, they could transform men and women so that they could do, feel, and believe what had hitherto been impossible to them. It mattered little whether these awakenings were sudden or gradual; their variety could be almost infinite.”

“Happiness or tragedy might just depend upon a slight sign of recognition, a nod of the head or perhaps a friendly smile.”

“My past sobriety is not a ticket to future sobriety. I have to pay that fare and make the decision to recover daily.”

“I don’t need to project the future or cry about the past. Just live to the best of my ability, one day at a time.”

“By admitting where I was at fault, I was given the ability to forgive ... With forgiveness came a freedom that I had not anticipated. The amends had required nothing but courage, and a faith that my Higher Power would carry me where I had been too afraid to walk alone.”

“I had a really good reason for working Step Nine and making amends to my family and friends. I didn’t want a parade of people at my funeral singing, ‘Ding, dong, the wicked witch is dead!’”

“AA is spiritual, is the eye of the hurricane, is my refuge and my comfort.”

“My Higher Power works incognito, defying definition and requiring faith.”

“I felt myself move with a new power, courage, and faith that, by the grace of God, I have acquired as a result of working the Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.”

“The individual must sometimes place the welfare of his fellows ahead of his own uncontrolled desires. Were the individual to yield nothing to the common welfare there could be no society at all – only self-will run riot; anarchy in the worst sense of the word.”

“I am feeling much better now, and I thank God for AA and my good friends. I have learned how to accept their help.”

“When I’m willing to pay the price for top-shelf sobriety, ‘action’ is still the magic word.”

“We who live in the haven of AA cling together with an intensity of purpose which the outside world seldom comprehends. The anarchy of the individual melts away. Self-love subsides and democracy becomes a reality. We begin to know true freedom of the spirit.”

“Alcoholics Anonymous has given me something of real value that I can share with others.”