Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path

Half measures availed us nothing

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable

There is a solution

Practical experience shows that nothing will so much ensure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics

We are going to know a new freedom and a new happiness. We will not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it. We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference

An addict, any addict, can stop using drugs, lose the desire to use, and find a new way to life

Complete abstinence is the foundation of our new way of life

It's not recovery that is painful; our resistance to it is what hurts

Just for today my thoughts will be on my recovery, living and enjoying life without the use of drugs

Recovery begins with surrender

It is impossible to understand addiction without asking what relief the addict finds, or hopes to find, in the drug or the addictive behaviour

The attempt to escape from pain, is what creates more pain

Not why the addiction, but why the pain

Being cut off from our own natural self-compassion is one of the greatest impairments we can suffer

The difference between passion and addiction is that between a divine spark and a flame that incinerates

Don't pick up a drink or drug, one day at a time. It sounds so simple; it actually is simple but it isn't easy

Real freedom is freedom from our petty, trivial desires

There is no freedom without forgiveness

End-stage addiction is mostly about waiting for the police, or someone, to come and bury you in your shame

Each sober breath you draw is an act of grace

Slogans saved my life

I was deteriorating faster than I could lower my standards

Help is the sunny side of control

The opposite of addiction isn't sobriety. It's connection

Addiction isn't a disease. Addiction is an adaptation. It's not you—it's the cage you live in

If you are alone, you cannot escape addiction. If you are loved, you have a chance

When you quit drinking you stop waiting

The hard things in life, the things you really learn from, happen with a clear mind

The real struggle is about you: you, a person who has to learn to live in the real world, to inhabit her own skin, to know her own heart, to stop waiting for life to begin

Sobriety isn't even a 'have to.' It's a superpower

Shame is the most powerful, master emotion. It's the fear that we're not good enough

If we can share our story with someone who responds with empathy and understanding, shame can't survive

Remember that just because you hit bottom doesn't mean you have to stay there

Job one is get out of that cave. A lot of people do get out but don't change

If I hadn't finally taken the big step of asking for help 30 years ago, I'd be dead

I need help

I didn't drink yesterday and I'm not planning on it today

So I pray every day — I roll out of bed and get on my knees before I do anything else: 'God, keep the desire to drink and drug from me this day'

I was lucky. I got sober at 29 years old

If I continued it, I was really going to sabotage my whole life

I choose life over death, I choose happiness over depression, I choose fulfillment over trying to fill an empty void

What I've realized along the way is that it's one day at a time

Getting clean made me grow up. I feel like all the years that I was using, I wasn't growing as a person

I knew I had to change my life. But addiction is a tricky thing. I either get help, or I am going to die

What if I forgave myself? What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was?

The idea that the creative endeavor and mind-altering substances are entwined is one of the great pop-intellectual myths of our time