“The Twelve Steps ... are simple in language, plain in meaning. They are also workable by any person having a sincere desire to obtain and keep sobriety. The results are the proof. Their simplicity and workability are such that no special interpretations, and certainly no reservations, have ever been necessary. And it has become increasingly clear that the degree of harmonious living which we achieve is in direct ratio to our earnest attempt to follow them literally under divine guidance to the best of our ability.”

“Our Twelve Traditions ... represent the sum of our experience as individuals, as groups within AA, and similarly with our fellows and other organizations in the great fellowship of humanity under God throughout the world. They are all suggestions, yet the spirit in which they have been conceived merits their serious, prayerful consideration as the guideposts of AA policy for the individual, the group, and our various committees, local and national.”

“Spiritual progress isn’t what gets us sober, it’s what keeps us sober.”

“Full consciousness ... implies not only the willingness to receive the love and benefits AA has to offer, but also to surrender to the equally painful experience of exposure to ourselves, and others, of ourselves.”

“We measure our progress in AA by two words, ‘humility’ and ‘responsibility.’ May I ever keep my eye on these yardsticks as I continue to seek only knowledge of his will for me.”

“We can’t grow without giving ourselves space for silence and the voice within.”

“Our Serenity Prayer ... brings a new light to us that can dissipate our old-time and nearly fatal habit of fooling ourselves.”

“When I first started in AA, I began each day asking God to help keep me sober that day, and ended each night by thanking him for another day of sobriety. I still end each day that way, as I have done almost every night during the past forty-one years. It is a routine for me, but every once in a while I pause to reflect on what it truly means. I do it every night so that God won’t change his mind, as I truly believe he helped lead me from the pits of alcoholism to the AA way of life.”

“I have always carried a meeting list and quarter for a phone call because I don’t know when I am going to want another drink.”

“We now know that we do not have to run away, nor ought we again try to overcome adversity by still another bulldozing power drive that can only push up obstacles before us faster than they can be taken down.”

“Times change, alcoholism doesn’t.”

“Few of us will ever be famous, but we can all be great because we serve each other.”

“How wonderful to be sober, to be able to think clearly (at times, at least), and to become aware of some portion of the greater wisdom concealed so deeply within myself.”

“The best university for me -- the best school, the best teaching -- was in analyzing mistakes that I’d made and problems I created because of these mistakes. Not my successes.”

“I’d like to develop Step Eleven further -- for the benefit of the complete doubter, the unlucky one who can’t believe it has any real merit at all .... As he goes along with his process of prayer, he begins to add up the results. If he persists, he will almost surely find more serenity, more tolerance, less fear, and less anger. He will acquire a quiet courage, the kind that doesn’t strain him. He can look at so-called failure and success for what they really are. Problems and calamity will begin to mean instruction, instead of destruction. He will feel freer and saner ... His sense of purpose and of direction will increase. His tensions and anxieties will commence to fade. His physical health is likely to improve. Wonderful and unaccountable things will start to happen. Twisted relations in his family and on the outside will unaccountably improve. “Even if few of these things happen, he will still find himself in possession of great gifts. When he has to deal with hard circumstances he can face them and accept them. He can now accept himself and the world around him.”