1 letter 1940
        It has often been said of A.A. that we are interested only in alcoholism. That is not
true. We have to get over drinking in order to stay alive. But anyone who knows the
alcoholic personality by firsthand contact knows that no true alky ever stops drinking
permanently without undergoing a profound personality change.
       
1 Twelve & Twelve p-47
        We thought conditions drove us to drink, & when we tried to correct these
conditions & found that we couldn't do so to our entire satisfaction, our drinking went
our of hand & we became alcoholics. It never occurred to us that we needed to change
ourselves to meet conditions, whatever they were.
       
2 A.A. Comes of Age p-100
When we look back, we realize that the things which came to us when we put ourselves
in God's hands were better than anything we could have planned
   
2 A.A. Comes of Age p-63
        My depression deepened unbearably, & finally it seemed to me as though I were
at the very bottom of the pit. For the moment, the last vestige of my proud obstinacy
was crushed. All at once I found myself crying out, "If there is a God, let Him show
Himself! I am ready to do anything, anything!"

        Suddenly the room lit up with a great white light. It seemed to me, in the minds
eye, that I was on a mountain & that a wind not of air but of spirit was blowing. &
then it burst upon me that I was a free man. Slowly the ecstasy subsided. I lay on the
bed, but now for a time I was in another world, a new world of consciousness. All about
me & through me there was a wonderful feeling Presence, & I thought to myself,
"So this is the God of the preachers!"
      
3 letter 1950
        Years ago I used to commiserate with all people who suffered. Now I commiserate
only with those who suffer in ignorance, who do not understand the purpose &
ultimate futility of pain.
     
3 Twelve & Twelve p-93/94
        Someone once remarked that pain is the touchstone of spiritual progress. How
heartily we A.A.'s can agree with him, for we know that the pains of alcoholism had to
come before sobriety, & emotional turmoil before serenity.'
       
3 letter 1950
        Believe more deeply. Hold your face up to the light, even though for the moment
you do not see.
       
4 Grapevine, November 1960
        We must never be blinded by the futile philosophy that we are just the hapless
victims of our inheritance, of our life experience, & of our surroundings - that these
are the sole forces that make our decisions for us. This is not the road to freedom. We
have to believe that we can really choose.
     
4 letter 1966
        As active alcoholics, we lost our ability to choose whether we would drink. We
were the victims of a compulsion, which seemed to decree that we must go on with our
own destruction.

        Yet we finally did make choices that brought about our recovery. We came to
believe that alone we were powerless over alcohol. This was surely a choice, & a
most difficult one. We came to believe that a Higher Power could restore us to sanity
when we became willing to practice A.A.'s twelve steps.
        In short, we chose to "become willing" & no better choice did we ever make.
     
5 Alcoholic Anonymous p-66
        It is plain that a life, which includes deep resentment, leads only to futility &
unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these, so we squander the hours that
might have been worthwhile. But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance
& growth of a spiritual experience, this business of harboring resentment is infinitely
grave. For then we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the spirit. The insanity of
alcohol returns & we drink again. & with us, to drink is to die.

        If we were to live, we had to be free of anger. The grouch & the sudden rage
were not for us. Anger is the dubious luxury of normal men, but for us alcoholics it is
poison.
      
6 Grapevine, March 1962
        Acceptance & faith are capable of producing 100 per cent sobriety. In fact, they
usually do; & they must, else we could have no life at all. But the moment we carry
these attitudes into our emotional problems, we find that only relative results are
possible. Nobody can, for example, become completely free from fear, anger, & pride.
      
        Hence, in this life we shall attain nothing like perfect humility & love. So we
shall have to settle, respecting most of our problems, for a very gradual progress,
punctuated sometimes by heavy setbacks. Our old-time attitude of "all or nothing" will
have to be abandoned.
      
7 Alcoholics Anonymous p-51
        In ancient times material progress was painfully slow. The spirit of modern
scientific inquiry, research, & invention was almost unknown.

        In the realm of the material, men's minds were fettered by superstition, tradition,
& all sorts of fixed ideas. Some of the contemporaries of Columbus thought a round
earth preposterous. Others came near putting Galileo to death for his astronomical
heresies.

        Are not some of us just as biased & unreasonable about the realm of the spirit as
were the ancients about the realm of the material??
    
7 Alcoholics Anonymous p-46
        We have found that God does not make too hard terms with those who seek Him.
To us, the realm of spirit is broad, roomy, all-inclusive, never exclusive or forbidding to
those who earnestly seek. It is open, we believe, to all men.
    
8 Grapevine, December 1957
        Is sobriety all that we are to expect of a spiritual awakening? No, sobriety is only a
bare beginning; it is only the first gift of the first awakening. If more gifts are to be
received, our awakening has to go on. As it does go on, we find that bit by bit we can
discard the old life - the one that did not work - for a new life that can & does work
under any conditions whatever.

        Regardless of worldly success or failure, regardless of pain or joy, regardless of
sickness or health or even of death itself, a new life of endless possibilities can be lived
if we are willing to continue our awakening, through the practice of A.A.'s twelve steps
      
9 Twelve & Twelve p-130
        The moment twelfth step work forms a group, a discovery is made - that most
individuals cannot recover unless there is a group. Realization dawns on each member
that he is but a small part of a great whole; that no personal sacrifice is to great for
preservation of the fellowship. He learns that the clamor of desires & ambitions
within him must be silenced whenever these could damage the group.

        It becomes plain that the group must survive or the individual will not.
      
9 letter 1966
        The lone member at sea, the A.A. at war in a far land - all these members know
that they belong to A.A.'s world-wide community, that theirs is only a physical
separation, that their fellows may be as near as the next port of call. Ever so
importantly, they are certain that God's grace is just as much with them on the high seas
or the lonely outpost as it is with them at home.
             
10 Twelve & Twelve p-98
        Self-searching is the means by which we bring new vision, action, & grace to
bear upon the dark & negative side of our natures. With it comes the development of
that kind of humility that makes it possible for us to receive Gods help. Yet it is only a
step. We will want to go further.

        We will want the good that is in us all, even in the worst of us, to flower & to
grow. But first of all we shall want sunlight; nothing much can grow in the dark.
Meditation is our step out into the sun.
      
10 letter 1946
        A clear light seems to fall upon us all - when we open our eyes. Since our
blindness is caused by our own defects, we must first deeply realize what they are.
Constructive meditation is the first requirement for each new step in our spiritual
growth.
    
11 letter 1958
        About this slip business - I would not be too discouraged. I think you are suffering
a great deal from a needless guilt. For some reason or other, the Lord has laid out
tougher paths for some of us, & I guess you are treading one of them. God is not
asking us to be successful. He is only asking us to try to be. That, you surly are doing,
& have been doing. So I would not stay away from A.A. through any feeling of
discouragement or shame. It is just the place you should be. Why don't you try just as a
member, You don't have to carry the whole A.A. on your back, you know!

        It is not always the quantity of good things that you do, it is also the quality that
counts.
        Above all, take it one day at a time!!!!!
       
12 Twelve & Twelve p-48/49
        Pride is the basic breeder of most human difficulties, the chief block to true
progress. Pride lures us into making demands upon ourselves or upon others which
cannot be met without perverting or misusing our God-given instincts. When the
satisfaction of our instincts for sex, security, & a place in society becomes the primary
object of our lives, the pride steps in to justify our excesses.
      
12 Grapevine June 1961
        I may attain "humility for today" only to the extent that I am able to avoid the bog
of guilt & rebellion on one hand &, on the other hand, that fair but deceiving land
which is strewn with the fool's-gold coins of pride. This is how I can find & stay on
the highroad to humility, which lies between these extremes. Therefore, a constant
inventory which can reveal when I am off the road is always in order.
     
13 Service Manual p-5
        A.A. is more than a set of principles; it is a society of alcoholics in action. We
must carry the message, else we ourselves can wither & those who have not been
given the truth may die.
       
13 Grapevine April 1961
        Faith is more than our greatest gift; its sharing with others is our greatest
responsibility. May we of A.A. continually seek the wisdom & the willingness by
which we may well fulfill that immense trust which the Giver of all perfect gifts has
placed in our hands.
       
14 Twelve & Twelve p-111
        The temptation is to become rather possessive of newcomers. Perhaps we try to
give them advice about their affairs which we are not really competent to five or ought
not give at all. Then we are hurt & confused when the advice is rejected, or when it is
accepted & brings still greater confusion.
       
14 letter 1942
        You can not make a horse drink water if he still prefers beer or is too crazy to
know what he does want. Set a pail of water beside him, tell him how good it se &
why, & leave him alone.

        If people really want to get drunk, there is, so far as I know, no way of stopping
this - so leave them alone & let them get drunk, but do not exclude them from the
water pail, either.
      
15 Grapevine June 1961
        Many people will have no truck at all with absolute spiritual values. Perfectionists,
they say, are either full of conceit because they fancy they have reached some
impossible goal, or else they are swamped in self-condemnation because they have not
done so.

        Yet I think that we should not hold this view. It is not the fault of great ideals that
they are some times misused & so become shallow excuses for guilt, rebellion, &
pride. On the contrary, we cannot grow very much unless we constantly try to envision
what the eternal spiritual values are.
      
15 letter 1966
        Day by day, we try to move a little toward God's perfection. So we need not be
consumed by maudlin guilt for failure to achieve His likeness & image by Thursday
next. Progress is our aim, & His perfection is the beacon, light-years away, that draws
us on.
       
16 letter 1949
        Most people feel more secure on the twenty-four hour basis than they do in the
resolution that they will never drink again. Most of them have broken too many
resolutions. It is really a matter of personal choice; every A.A. has the privilege of
interpreting the program as he likes.

        Personally, I take the attitude that I intend never to drink again. This is somewhat
different from saying, "I will never drink again". The latter attitude sometimes gets
people in trouble because it is undertaking on a personal basis to do what we alcoholics
never could do. It is too much an act of will & leaves too little room for the idea that
God will release us from the drink obsession provided we follow the A.A. program.
       
17 Twelve & Twelve p-94/95
        The perverse wish to hide a bad motive underneath a good one permeates human
affairs from top to bottom. This subtle & elusive kind of self-righteousness can
underlie the smallest act or thought. Learning daily to spot, admit, & correct these
flaws is the essence of character-building & good living.
       
17 Grapevine August 1961
        The deception of others is nearly always rooted in the deception of ourselves.
     
17 Twelve & Twelve p-60
        Somehow, being alone with God does not seem as embarrassing as facing up to
another person. Until we actually sit down & talk aloud about what we have so long
hidden, our willingness to clean house is still largely theoretical. When we are honest
with another person, it confirms that we have been honest with ourselves & with God.
       
18 letter 1966
        Dr. Bob was my constant companion & partner in the great A.A. adventure. As
the physician & great human being that he was, he chose work with others as his
prime vocation & achieved a recourse which, in quantity & in quality, none will
ever surpass. Assisted by the incomparable Sister Ignatia at St. Thomas Hospital in
Akron, he - without charge - medically treated & spiritually infused five thousand
sufferers.

        In all the stress & strain of A.A.'s pioneering time, no hard word ever passed
between us. For this, I can thankfully say that the credit was all his.
       
18 A.A. Comes of Age p-214
        I took my leave of Dr. Bob, knowing that he was to undergo a serious operation.
The old, broad smile was on his face as he said almost jokingly, "Remember, Bill, lets
not louse this thing up. Let's keep it simple!" I turned away, unable to say a word. That
was the last time I ever saw him.
      
19 Twelve & Twelve p-91/92
        Disagreeable or unexpected problems are not the only ones that call for self-
control. We must be quite as careful when we begin to achieve some measure of
importance & material success. For no people have ever loved personal triumphs
more than we have loved them; we drank of success as of a wine which could never fail
to make us feel elated. Blinded by prideful self-confidence, we were apt to play the big
shot.

        Now that we are in A.A. & sober, winning back the esteem of our friends &
business associates, we find that we still need to exercise special vigilance. As an
insurance against the dangers of big-shot-ism, we can often check ourselves by
remembering that we are today sober only by the grace of God & that any success we
may be having is far more His success than ours.
       
20 Grapevine March 1962
        God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change, the courage to
change the things we can, & the wisdom to know the difference.
       
20 Grapevine march 1962
        We treasure our "serenity prayer" because it brings new light to us that can
dissipate our old-time & nearly fatal habit of fooling ourselves.

        In the radiance of this prayer we see that defeat, rightly accepted, need be no
disaster. We now know that we do not have to run away, nor ought we 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.
       
21 letter 1959
        Each of us in turn - that is, the member who gets the most out of the program -
spends a very large amount of time on twelfth step work in the early years. That was
my case, & perhaps I should not have stayed sober with less work.

        However, sooner or later most of us are presented with other obligations - to
family, to friends, & country. As you will remember, the twelfth step also refers to
"practicing these principles in all our affairs". Therefore, I think your choice of whether
to take a particular twelfth step job is to be found in your own conscience. No one else
can tell you for certain what you ought to do at a particular time.

        I just know that you are expected, at some point, to do more than carry the
message of A.A. to other alcoholics. In A.A. we aim not only for sobriety - we try again
to become citizens of the world that we rejected, & of the world that once rejected us.
This is the ultimate demonstration toward which twelfth step work is the first but not
the final step.
      
22 Twelve & Twelve p-76
        The chief activator of our defects has been self-centered fear - primarily fear that
we would lose something we already possessed or would fail to get something we
demanded. Living upon a basis of unsatisfied demands, we were in a state of continual
disturbance & frustration. Therefore, no peace was to be had unless we could find a
means of reducing these demands.
     
22 Grapevine January 1962
        For all its usual destructiveness, we have found that fear can be the starting point
for better things. Fear can be a steppingstone to prudence & to a decent respect for
others. It can point the path to justice, as well as to hate. & the more we have of
respect & justice, the more we shall begin to find the love which can suffer much, &
yet be freely given. So fear need not always be destructive, because the lessons of its
consequences can lead us to positive values.
       
23 Alcoholics Anonymous p-54
        We found that we had indeed been worshipers. What a state of mental goose flesh
that used to bring on! Had we not variously worshiped people, sentiment, things money,
& ourselves?

        And then, with a better motive, had we not worshipfully beheld the sunset, the sea,
or a flower? Who of us had not loved something or somebody? Were not these things
the tissue out of which our lives were constructed? Did not these feelings, after all,
determine the course of our existence?

        It was impossible to say we had no capacity for faith, or love, or worship. In one
form or another, we had been living by faith & little else.
       
24 Grapevine October 1959
        In the beginning, it was four whole years before A.A. brought permanent sobriety
to even one alcoholic woman. Like the "high bottoms" the women said they were
different; A.A. could not be for them. But as the communications was perfected, mostly
by the women themselves, the picture changed.

        This process of identification & transmission has gone on & on.  The skid
rower said he was different. Even more loudly, the socialite (or park avenue
stumblebum) said the same - so did the artist & the professional people, the rich, the
poor, the religious, the agnostic, the Indians & the Eskimos, the veterans, & the
prisoners.

        But nowadays all of these, & legions more, soberly talk about how very much
alike all of us alcoholics are when we admit that the chips are finally down.
      
25 Grapevine June 1961
        In the first days of A.A., I was not much bothered about the areas of life in which I
was standing still. There was always the alibi: "after all," I said to myself, "I'm far too
busy with much more important matters." That was my nearly perfect prescription for
comfort & complacency.
     
25 Grapevine February 1961
        How many of us would presume to declare, "Well, I am sober & I am happy.
What more can I want, or do? I am fine the way I am." We know that the price of such
self-satisfaction is an inevitable backslide, punctuated at some point by a very rude
awakening. We have to grow or else deteriorate. For us, the status quo can only be for
today, never for tomorrow. Change we must; we cannot stand still.
       
26 Twelve & Twelve p-36
        The more we become willing to depend upon a Higher Power, the more
independent we actually are. Therefore, dependence as A.A. practices it is really a
means of gaining true independence of the spirit.

        At the level of everyday living, it is startling to discover how dependent we really
are, & how unconscious of that dependence. Every modern house has electric wiring
carrying power & light to its interior. By accepting with delight our dependence upon
this marvel of science, we find ourselves personally more independent, more
comfortable & secure. Power flows just where it is needed. Silently & surely,
electricity, that strange energy so few people understand, meets our simplest daily
needs.

        Though we readily accept this principle of healthy dependence in many of our
temporal affairs, we often fiercely resist the identical principle when asked to apply it
as means of growth in the life of the spirit. Clearly, we shall never know freedom under
God until we try to seek His will for us. The choice is ours.
       
27 Alcoholics Anonymous p-85
        We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent
on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.
       
27 Twelve & Twelve p-174
        We of A.A. obey spiritual principles, at first because we must, then because we
ought to, & ultimately because we love the kind of life such obedience brings. Great
suffering & great love are A.A.'s disciplinarians; we need no others.
      
28 Grapevine august 1946
        Few of us are any longer afraid of what any newcomer can do to our A.A.
reputation or effectiveness. Those who slip, those who panhandle, those who
scandalize, those with mental twists, those who rebel at the program, those who trade
on the A.A. reputation - all such persons seldom harm an A.A. group for long.

        Some of these have become our most respected & best loved. Some have
remained to try our patience, sober nonetheless. Others have drifted away. WE have
begun to regard the troublesome ones not as menaces, but rather as our teachers. They
oblige us to cultivate patience, tolerance, & humility. We finally see that they are only
people sicker than the rest of us, that we who condemn them are the Pharisees whose
false righteousness does our group the deeper spiritual damage.
       
29 letter 1959
        Gratitude should go forward rather than backward. In other words, if you carry
the message to still others, you will be making the best possible repayment for the help
given to you.
       
29 Twelve & Twelve p-110
        No greater satisfaction has been deeper & no joy greater than in a twelfth step
job well done. To watch the eyes of men & women open with wonder as they move
from darkness into light, to see their lives quickly fill with new purpose & meaning,
& above all to watch them awaken to the presence of a loving God in their lives -
these things are the substance of what we receive as we carry A.A.'s message.
       
30 letter 1954
        Sometimes, we become depressed. I ought to know; I have been a champion dry-
bender case myself. While the surface causes were a part of the picture - trigger events
that precipitated depression - the underlying causes, I am satisfied, ran much deeper.

        Intellectually, I could accept my situation. Emotionally, I could not.
        To these problems, there are certainly no pat answers. But part of the answer
surely lies in the constant effort to practice all of A.A.'s twelve steps.

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