“The question arises of just what constitutes an amend. Many of us find that the old rationalization, ‘If I stay sober, that’s amends enough to those I have hurt,’ just doesn’t work. We have to be willing to go further.”
“Our sobriety should be founded on ‘unselfish selfishness’ ... It’s not sound, we have been told, to try to stay dry for the sake of a wife or a sweetheart or someone else dear to us.”
“If we fail to ‘repair,’ we can only impair.”
“Let all of us AAs, whether we be trustees, editors, secretaries, janitors, or cooks -- or just members -- ever recall the unimportance of wealth and authority as compared with the vast import of our brotherhood, love, and service.”
“Let us of AA ... resolve that we shall always be inclusive and never exclusive, offering all we have to all, save our title. May all barriers be thus leveled.”
“Often simplicity yields to complexity as the human mind grasps a great revelation, and places its own particular interpretation upon it. All too often the revelation becomes lost in the maze of human ideas, interpretations, and suggestions. Thus have great movements risen, flourished for a season, and died. But AA has steadily progressed through the labyrinth of complexity, carefully avoiding luring temptations of wealth, professionalism, and fame as a healer of one of mankind's most deadly diseases. Dr. Bob who responded to that original phone call, and heard and accepted the message from Bill, has left ringing in our ears, the vital admonition: ‘Keep it simple.’”
“There are AA emotions and attitudes that transcend language.”
“With each passing year we increasingly realize the immense importance of adequately presenting the program to every new prospect who is in the least inclined to listen. Many of us feel this to be our greatest obligation to him and our failure to do so our greatest dereliction. The difference between a good approach and a bad one can mean life or death to those who seek our help.”
“What I have learned in the past twelve years is that my relationship with God and my spiritual practice is the only answer, even when I’m not sure of the question.”
“For thousands of alcoholics yet to come, AA does have an answer. But there is one condition. We must, at all costs, preserve our essential unity; it must be made unbreakably secure. Without permanent unity there can be little lasting recovery for anyone. Hence our future depends upon the creation and observance of a sound group Tradition. First things will always need to be first: humility before success, and unity before fame.”
“It has been difficult for me to accept myself and some of my decisions ... But I’ve done the best I can with the information available, even if it might not be someone else’s best.”
“When I effectively practice my program, I am only a cheap dime-store garden hose carrying God’s message of hope, recovery, and forgiveness.”
“It surely may be said that the future looks bright. Much more hospitalization, based on the certainty that we are a sick people and that plenty can be done about it, is now on the way. We ought gratefully to acknowledge the work of those agencies outside AA who are strenuously helping this life-redeeming trend along.”
“Throughout the world AAs are twelfth-stepping with thousands of new prospects a month. Between one and two thousand of these stick on our first presentation; past experience shows that most of the remainder will come back to us later on. Almost entirely unorganized, and completely nonprofessional, this mighty spiritual current is now flowing from alcoholics who are well to those who are sick. One alcoholic talking to another; that's all.”
“There is very little in life that I must personally handle or that someone else couldn't do as well. On the other hand, no one else in the world can take my place at my meetings.”
