“The welcome I received in AA was real. Neither my youth, my race, my newness, nor my foreignness concerned them. All they appeared to see was that I finally admitted my powerlessness over alcohol. That was enough for them.”

“The Italians have a neat way of telling someone ‘I love you.’ Their expression is ‘Ti voglio bene’ -- ‘I wish you well.’ It just seems to put things on a tangible level ... Quite often my prayer is nothing more than this little Italian phrase, ‘Ti voglio bene.’"

“I expect to be ‘on tap’ but never again ‘on top,’ this being precisely the stance that AA hopes all its old-timers will take.”

“I was told by a sober member of AA that if I wanted to stay sober I would need to do three things: get a sobriety date and don’t change it, get a sponsor, and get a home group.”

“Today, I don’t have the home, the husband, the three cars in the garage. I have one old clunker that takes me to meetings. I am not financially well off, but I have a peace of mind I never dreamed possible. My needs are always met -- and even some of my wishes. I am truly happy for the first time in my life. Thank you AA.”

“We found that all progress, material or spiritual, consisted of finding out what our responsibilities actually were and then proceeding to do something about them ... We found that we didn’t always have to be driven by our own discomforts as, more willingly, we picked up the burdens of living and growing ... We discovered that full acceptance and action upon any clear-cut responsibility almost invariably made for true happiness and peace of mind.”

“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.”