"Years ago this principle of 'no endorsement' was put to a vital test.
Some of the great distilling companies proposed to go into the field of
alcohol education. It would be a good thing, they believed, for the
liquor trade to show a sense of public responsibility. They wanted to
say that liquor should be enjoyed, not misused; hard drinkers ought to
slow down, and problem drinkers--alcoholics--should not drink at all."
(Twelve and Twelve, Tradition Six, pg. 157)

"Then, hesitantly, I ventured to talk about the spiritual side of our
program. What a freeze that drunk gave me! I'd no sooner got the
word 'spiritual' out of my mouth than he pounced. 'Oh!' he said. 'Now I
get it! You're proselyting for some damn religious sect or other. Where
do you get that "no angle" stuff? I belong to a great church that means
everything to me. You've got a nerve to come in here talking
religion!'" (Twelve and Twelve, Tradition Five, pg. 152)

"Of course, there was a promoter in the deal--a super-promoter. By his
eloquence he allayed all fears, despite advice from the Foundation that
it could issue no charter, and that ventures which mixed an AA group
with medication and education had come to sticky ends elsewhere. To
make things safer, the promoter organized three corporations and became
president of them all. Freshly painted, the new center shone. The
warmth of it all spread through the town. Soon things began to hum. To
insure foolproof, continuous operation, sixty-one rules and regulations
were adopted." (Twelve and Twelve, Tradition Four, pg. 148)

"The answer, now seen in Tradition Three, was simplicity itself. At
last experience taught us that to take away any alcoholic's full chance
was sometimes to pronounce his death sentence, and often to condemn him
to endless misery. Who dared to be judge, jury, and executioner of his
own sick brother?" (Twelve and Twelve, Tradition Three, pg. 141)

"Headed by the chairman, they look after public relations and arrange
meetings. Their treasurer, strictly accountable, takes money from the
hat that is passed, banks it, pays rent and other bills, and makes a
regular report at business meetings. The secretary sees that literature
is on the table, looks after the phone-answering service, answers the
mail, and sends out notices of meetings. Such are the simple services
that enable the group to function. The committee gives no spiritual
advice, judges no one's conduct, issues no orders. Every one of them
may be promptly eliminated at the next election if they try this. And
so they make a belated discovery that they are really servants, not
senators. These are universal experiences. Thus throughout AA does the
group conscience decree the terms upon which its leaders shall serve."
(Twelve and Twelve, Tradition Two, pg. 134)

"Then, in Step Seven, we humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings
such as He could or would under the conditions of the day we asked. In
Step Eight, we continued our housecleaning, for we saw that we were not
only in conflict with ourselves, but also with people and situations in
the world in which we lived. We had to begin to make our peace, and so
we listed the people we had harmed and became willing to set things
right. We followed this up in Step Nine by making direct amends to
those concerned, except when it would injure them or other people."
(Twelve and Twelve, Step Twelve, pg. 108)

"We will want the good that is in us all, even in the worst of us, to
flower and to grow. Most certainly we shall need bracing air and an
abundance of food. But first of all we shall want sunlight; nothing
much can grow in the dark. Meditation is our step out into the sun.
How, then, shall we meditate?" (Twelve and Twelve, Step Eleven, pg. 98)

"Few people have been more victimized by resentments than we
alcoholics. It mattered little whether our resentments were justified
or not. A burst of temper could spoil a day, and a well nursed grudge
could make us miserably ineffective. Nor were we ever skillful in
separating justified from unjustified anger. As we saw it, our wrath
was always justified. Anger, that occasional luxury of more balanced
people, could keep us on an emotional jag indefinitely. These
emotional 'dry benders' often led straight to the bottle. Other kinds
of disturbances--jealousy, envy, self-pity, or hurt pride--did the same
thing." (Twelve and Twelve, Step Ten, pg. 90)

"As soon as we begin to feel confident in our new way of life and have
begun, by our behavior and example, to convince those about us that we
are indeed changing for the better, it is usually safe to talk in
complete frankness with those who have been seriously affected, even
those who may be only a little or not at all aware of what we have done
to them. The only exceptions we will make will be cases where our
disclosure would cause actual harm. These conversations can begin in a
casual or natural way. But if no such opportunity presents itself, at
some point we will want to summon all our courage, head straight for
the person concerned, and lay our cards on the table. We needn't wallow
in excessive remorse before those we have harmed, but amends at this
level should always be forthright and generous." (Twelve and Twelve,
Step Nine, pg. 85)

"This attitude, of course, is the end result of purposeful forgetting.
It is an attitude which can only be changed by a deep and honest search
of our motives and actions. Though in some cases we cannot make
restitution at all, and in some cases action ought to be deferred, we
should nevertheless make an accurate and really exhaustive survey of
our past life as it has affected other people. In many instances we
shall find that though the harm done others has not been great, the
emotional harm we have done ourselves has. Very deep, sometimes quite
forgotten, damaging emotional conflicts persist below the level of
consciousness. At the time of these occurrences, they may actually have
given our emotions violent twists which have since discolored our
personalities and altered our lives for the worse." (Twelve and Twelve,
Step Eight, pg. 79)

"This lack of anchorage to any permanent values, this blindness to the
true purpose of our lives, produced another bad result. For just so
long as we were convinced that we could live exclusively by our own
individual strength and intelligence, for just that long was a working
faith in a Higher Power impossible. This was true even when we believed
that God existed. We could actually have earnest religious beliefs
which remained barren because we were still trying to play God
ourselves. As long as we placed self-reliance first, a genuine reliance
upon a Higher Power was out of the question. That basis ingredient of
all humility, a desire to seek and do God's will, was missing." (Twelve
and Twelve, Step Seven, pg. 72)

"Since most of us are born with an abundance of natural desires, it
isn't strange that we often let these far exceed their intended
purpose. When they drive us blindly, or we willfully demand that they
supply us with more satisfactions or pleasures than are possible or due
us, that is the point at which we depart from the degree of perfection
that God wishes for us here on earth. That is the measure of our
character defects, or, if you wish, of our sins." (Twelve and Twelve,
Step Six, pg. 65)

"What are we likely to receive from Step Five? For one thing, we shall
get rid of that terrible sense of isolation we've always had. Almost
without exception, alcoholics are tortured by loneliness. Even before
our drinking got bad and people began to cut us off, nearly all of us
suffered the feeling that we didn't quite belong. Either we were shy,
and dared not draw near others, or we were apt to be noisy good fellows
craving attention and companionship, but never getting it--at least to
our way of thinking. There was always that mysterious barrier we could
neither surmount nor understand. It was as if we were actors on a
stage, suddenly realizing that we did not know a single line of our
parts. That's one reason we loved alcohol too well. It did let us act
extemporaneously. But even Bacchus boomeranged on us; we were finally
struck down and left in terrified loneliness." (Twelve and Twelve, Step
Five, pg. 57)

"When an individual's desire for prestige becomes uncontrollable,
whether in the sewing circle or at the international conference
table, other people suffer and often revolt. This collision of
instincts can produce anything from a cold snub to a blazing
revolution. In these ways we are set in conflict not only with
ourselves, but with other people who have instincts, too." (Twelve
and Twelve, Step Four, pg. 44)

"Let's examine for a moment this idea of dependence at the level of
everyday living. In this area it is startling to discover how dependent
we really are, and how unconscious of that dependence. Every modern
house has electric wiring carrying power and light to its interior. We
are delighted with this dependence; our main hope is that nothing will
ever cut off the supply of current. By so accepting our dependence upon
this marvel of science, we find ourselves more independent personally.
Not only are we more independent, we are even more comfortable and
secure. Power flows just where it is needed. Silently and surely,
electricity, that strange energy so few people understand, meets our
simplest daily needs, and our most desperate ones, too. Ask the polio
sufferer confined to an iron lung who depends with complete trust upon
a motor to keep the breath of life in him." (Twelve and Twelve, Step
Three, pg. 36)

"This is only one man's opinion based on his own experience, of
course. I must quickly assure you that AA's tread innumerable paths
in their quest for faith. If you don't care for the one I've
suggested, you'll be sure to discover one that suits if only you look
and listen. Many a man like you has begun to solve the problem by the
method of substitution." (Twelve and Twelve, Step Two, pg. 27)

"It was obviously necessary to raise the bottom the rest of us had hit
to the point where it would hit them. By going back in our own drinking
histories, we could show that years before we realized it we were out
of control, that our drinking even then was no mere habit, that it was
indeed the beginning of a fatal progression. To the doubters we could
say, 'Perhaps you're not an alcoholic after all. Why don't you try some
more controlled drinking, bearing in mind meanwhile what we have told
you about alcoholism?' This attitude brought immediate and practical
results." (Twelve and Twelve, Step One, pg. 23)

"As a rule, the average newcomer wanted his family to know immediately
what he was trying to do. He also wanted to tell others who had tried
to help him--his doctor, his minister, and close friends. As he gained
confidence, he felt it right to explain his new way of life to his
employer and business associates. When opportunities to be helpful
came along, he found he could talk easily about AA to almost anyone.
These quiet disclosures helped him to lose his fear of the alcoholic
stigma, and spread the news of AA's existence in his community. Many
a new man and woman came to AA because of such conversations. Though
not in the strict letter of anonymity, such communications were well
within its spirit." (Twelve and Twelve, Tradition Twelve, pg. 185)

"There was actually a time when the press of America thought the
anonymity of AA was better for us than some of our own members did.
At one point, about a hundred of our Society were breaking anonymity
at the public level. With perfectly good intent, these folks declared
that the principle of anonymity was horse-and-buggy stuff, something
appropriate to AA's pioneering days. They were sure that AA could go
faster and farther if it availed itself of modern publicity methods.
AA, they pointed out, included many persons of local, national, or
international fame. Provided they were willing--and many were--why
shouldn't their membership be publicized, thereby encouraging others
to join us? These were plausible arguments, but happily our friends
of the writing profession disagreed with them." (Twelve and Twelve,
Tradition Eleven, pg. 182)