Bill W. Quotes

Honesty with ourselves & others gets us sober, but it is tolerance that keeps us that way.

True ambition is not what we thought it was. True ambition is the profound desire to live usefully and walk humbly under the grace of God.

No personal calamity is so crushing that something true and great can't be made of it

In God's economy, nothing is wasted. Through failure, we learn a lesson in humility which is probably needed, painful though it is.

We know that permanent sobriety can be attained only by a most revolutionary change in the life and outlook of the individual.

We lose the fear of making decisions, great and small; as we realize that should our choice prove wrong we can, if we will, learn from the experience.

Guilt is really the reverse side of the coin of pride. Guilt aims at self-destruction, and pride aims at the destruction of others.

Because of our kinship in suffering, our channels of contact have always been charged with the language of the heart.

AA is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted, under grace, into spiritual progress.

Almost without exception alcoholics are tortured by loneliness.

Learning how to live in the greatest peace, partnership, and brotherhood with all men and women, of whatever description, is a moving and fascinating adventure.

The good is the enemy of the best.

Nothing matters more to AA's future welfare than the manner in which we use the colossus of modern communication. Used unselfishly and well, it can produce results surpassing our present imagination.

Nowadays my brain no longer races compulsively in either elation, grandiosity, or depression. I have been given a quiet place in bright sunshine.

More than most people, the alcoholic leads a double life. He is very much the actor

Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us.

God is either everything, or He is nothing.

A born Texan has instilled in his system a mind-set of no retreat or no surrender. I wish everyone the world over had the dominating spirit that motivates Texans.

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 and ultimate utility of pain

We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that our lives had become unmanageable. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves would restore us to sanity.

We will see that our new attitude toward liquor has been given to us without any thought or effort on our part. It just comes! That is the miracle of it.

Pain is the touchstone of all growth

Each day my friend's simple talk in our kitchen multiplies itself in a widening circle of peace on earth and good will to men.

The folks you help won't remember it and the folks you hurt won't ever forget it.

Only the self-deceived will claim perfect freedom from fear.

We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired.

I have become a pupil of the AA movement rather than the teacher.

The temporary good is enemy to the permanent best.

Seeing is believing to most families who have lived with a drinker.

In the wake of my spiritual experience there came a vision of a society of alcoholics.

Through failure we learn a lesson in humility which is probably needed painful though it is.

We lose the fear of making decisions great and small as we realize that should our choice prove wrong we can if we will learn from the experience.

The deception of others is almost always rooted in the deception of ourselves.