QUOTES

Definition of Quote:
Repeat words from a text by another person.

Synonyms of Quote:
Recite, repeat, reproduce, restate, echo, reiterate, excerpt, etc.

These notes are from recovery in AA and/or related 12 step programs. Readers are encouraged to click external links for more detail. We hope you find them helpful.

Love in fellowship.

Honesty gets us sober.
Tolerance keeps us sober. –Bill W.

I was sick of being sick. I never wanted to die.
I wanted to Live, but I didn’t know how to do it. –Gertie/Lanzarote

Not drinking is the first requirement for joy;
the second requirement is gratitude. –Lombard, Ill., February 1995/Grapevine

My daily choice is to rise and shine,
or rise and whine. –Anonymous

If you feel the need to get even,
try getting even with those that have helped you. –Mel B.

If you are Not Happy Today?
Then What Day are You Waiting On? –Unknown

Your last chance to do anything about today is right now.
If you like what you got, You’re gonna love what you get –Unknown

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be,
and you help them to become what they are capable of being. –Johann W. von Goethe

When you talk, you are only repeating what you already know;
but when you listen, you may learn something new. –Dalai Lama

The program is a road, not a resting place.
If you want to quit drinking, you are going to have to quit drinking.

Adversity introduces us to ourselves –Unknown
When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be. –Lao Tzu

What other people think of me is really none of my business! –Inspirations

Nothing is interesting if you are not interested. –Helen MacInnes
Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty. –Mother Theresa

Happiness is a journey, not a destination.
I was offended by not being invited to things I did not want to go to. –Heard-at-a-meeting

Work like you don’t need money,
Love like you’ve never been hurt,
And dance like no one’s watching. –Inspirations

The main difference between me and my Higher Power is that
my Higher Power doesn’t get confused and think He’s me. –Anon

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience.
We are spiritual beings having a human experience –Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Action may not bring happiness
but there is no happiness without action. –William James

You are a child of God. You are a child of Light.
The Soul that is your true identity resides naturally in love and joy. –John-Roger

Your talent is God’s gift to you.
What you do with it is your gift back to God. –Leo Buscaglia

We can be serious about our work without being serious about ourselves. — Stephen C Lundin

Watch your…
Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions, they become habits.
Watch your habits, they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny. –Frank Outlaw

Don’t find fault, find a remedy. Anybody can complain. –Henry Ford
Without prayer, I should have been a lunatic long ago. –Mahatma Gandhi

The future comes one day at a time. –Dean Acheson
What we see depends mainly on what we look for. –John Lubbock

I didn’t drink because I had problems. I had problems because I drank. –Psychic Change
Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and harmony. –Thomas Merton

Act as if everything depended on you, and pray as if everything depended on God
Spread friendliness. Greet people with a smile. –Inspirations

If you are not happy with what you have,
What makes you think you would be happy with more? –Inspirations

Act as if everything depended on you,
and pray as if everything depended on God –Inspirations

The Steps protect me from myself.
The 12 Traditions protect AA from me. –Inspirations

Smiles are contagious.
See if you can infect someone today. –Inspirations

Be patient with others,
but mostly be patient with yourself. –Inspirations

Willingness is doing what I have to, whether I want to or not.
If you feel the need to get even, try getting even with those that have helped you. –Inspirations

I may not be perfect,
but parts of me are excellent. –Inspirations

You can’t change reality;
But you can change your attitude towards it.

If you like what you’ve got,
You’re going to love what you get!

Is it odd or is it God?
There is no progress without change.

Honesty without kindness is cruel,
and kindness without honesty is co-dependence.

Your mind is your predicament.
The real problem is how you deal with the original problem.

For complete happiness…
Resign as general manager of the universe.

If you treat people badly today,
you get to reap the benefits tomorrow.

All that you have to do is this,
Stop thinking about the difficulty

Don’t worry about tomorrow,
Your Highe
r Power is already there.

Worse than being a quitter
is the one who is afraid to begin.

Minds are like parachutes
They won’t work unless they’re open.

We came to AA to save our ass,
and found out our soul was attached.

Unless I accept my virtues,
I will be overwhelmed with my faults.

Trust in God, Clean house, and Work with others.
The real problem is how you deal with the original problem. –Inspirations

If you woke up breathing,
Congratulations! You have another chance! –Inspirations

Any fool can know.
The point is to understand. –Inspirations

When we dwell on the problem, it gets bigger.
When we dwell on the solution, it gets bigger. –Inspirations

We live our program in one-day portions
And our actions today have immediate consequences. –Inspirations

You cannot think yourself sober, read yourself sober or act yourself sober.
You must live yourself sober. –Inspirations

God is the answer.
Now what is my problem? –Inspirations

Resentments are like stray dogs:
If you don’t pet them, they will go away. –Inspirations

Worry pretends to be necessary but serves no useful purpose. –Eckhart Tolle

Smart feet are feet that carry us to a place we need to be,
whether we know it ahead of time or not. –Joan Larkin | More…

The First Step identifies the problem.
The remaining eleven Steps are the solution. –Inspirations

Experience is not what happens to you.
It is what you do with what happens to you. –Inspirations

Your best is always good enough, because
it comes from you, and you are always good enough. –Inspirations

The quieter we become, the more we hear.
Take the program seriously, not yourself. –Inspirations

You will either step forward into growth,
or you will step back into safety. –Inspirations

The message of the program is that we never
have to accept the things we can and should change. –Inspirations

You don’t have a soul.
You are a Soul. You have a body. –Inspirations

Your talent is God’s gift to you.
What you do with it is your gift back to God. –Inspirations

Integrity is telling myself the truth.
Honesty is telling the truth to other people –Inspirations

AA does not teach us how to handle drinking,
it teaches us how to handle sobriety. –Inspirations

You can’t change reality;
But you can change your attitude towards it. –Inspirations

I’m Not All-Right, and You’re Not All-Right,
But That’s Okay, THAT’S ALL-right. –Inspirations

You woke up this morning clean and sober.
That’s your spiritual awakening. –Inspirations

Pray and wait for the answer.
If you don’t get an answer, that’s the answer. –Inspirations

Living in the here and the now
opens up untold possibilities for new growth. –Inspirations

Encouragement from an old-timer
can turn a newcomer’s life around. –Inspirations

You spend more time with yourself than with anyone else.
Doesn’t it make sense to put something into that relationship? –Inspirations

Spiritual progress comes as a gift,
not as an achievement. –Inspirations

Secrets are only secrets until
we share them with another human being. –Inspirations

I can’t fix the mind I got with the mind I got.
Whatever your problem, know that there is a solution. –Inspirations

We are all important,
But not for the reasons we think. –Inspirations

The time is always right to do what is right.
When we let go, we let go of our need to always be right –Inspirations

If we want to change our lives,
Then we must change our thoughts first. –Inspirations

Controlling life isn’t the answer, it’s the problem.
Be patient with others, but mostly be patient with yourself. –Inspirations

The more frantic we feel on the inside;
The more compulsive we try to organize the outside. –Inspirations

I’m not an alcoholic because I drank too much.
I’m an alcoholic because I can’t drink enough. –Inspirations

We live our program in one-day portions
And our actions today have immediate consequences. –Inspirations

If you treat people badly today,
You get to reap the benefits tomorrow. –Inspirations

I’ve learned in the program that I will always feel less than
when I compare my insides with someone else’s outsides. –Wisdom of the Rooms

The program addresses the art of the possible.
We focus on acquiring people skills by building our own possibilities. –Days of Healing, Days of Joy | More…

There is no progress without change.
Live life today as though you knew you were dying. –Inspirations

God creates.
People rearrange. –Inspirations

Any fool can know.
The point is to understand. –Inspirations

Responsibility:
Your response to God’s ability. –Inspirations

Work the program hard; life is easy.
Work the program easy; life is hard… –Inspirations

Allowing yourself to be less than perfect
allows you to accomplish great things in small ways. –Inspirations

Take time to learn from the mistakes of others.
We don’t have time to make all of them ourselves. –Inspirations

Take the program seriously, not yourself.
The creative process is a process of surrender, not control. –Inspirations

We are all important,
But not for the reasons we think. –Inspirations

Being on the tightrope is living;
everything else is waiting. –Karl Wallenda

Try to keep your words palatable;
You never know when you may have to eat them. –Inspirations

Complaining is not an action step.
Resentment unites anger, fear, and sadness. –Inspirations

We are not responsible for our disease,
We are responsible only for our recovery. –Inspirations

You don’t get drunk watching others drink.
You don’t get serenity watching others do the steps. –Inspirations

Contempt prior to investigation is as much a symptom
of alcoholism as cirrhosis of the liver. –Susan Cheever

When we were ready to give up anger and resentment, we found generosity and forgiveness toward other people, and toward ourselves, too. –Inspirations

In recovery, it’s true, one door has closed.
But another, better door has finally opened. .. Body, Mind, and Spirit | More…

If you keep doing things like you’ve always done them,
what you’ll get is what you’ve already got –Inspirations

Honesty: Assume 100% responsibility for your own words while
allowing others to retain 100% responsibility for their response. –Steve Pavlina

Garbage in, garbage out: Arrogance and timidity both produce garbage input,
making it impossible for you to produce intelligent output. –Steve Pavlina

Making mistakes is something everyone does. Learning from them is not. Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life.

Choose to make a life, rather than a living… There is no need to recriminate yourself. Simply notice what you’ve been choosing and choose again! –unknown

Knowledge of ‘the answers’ never made anyone relapse.
It was failing to practice ‘the answers’ known. –Anonymous

One of the biggest lies I tell myself is,
“I don’t need to write that down, I’ll remember it!” –Anonymous

Avoid becoming defensive and possibly causing conflict by taking a moment to think before you respond. God’s plans for you are beyond your imagination. –Inspirations

If you’re feeling far away from God, you’re the one who moved.
If nothing changes, nothing changes –Wisdom Of The Rooms

We’re not against alcohol, we’re for sobriety.
What worries you, masters you. –Haddon W. Robinson

Don’t let yesterday use up too much of today. –Native American Proverb
Time is like a river – it flows by and doesn’t return. –Chinese Proverb

No matter how long you have traveled in the wrong direction, you can always turn around. –LifeLimits

Wisdom comes with the ability to be still. Just look and just listen. No more is needed.

Too much of a good thing can actually diminish the joy and make it a burden.
As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way.

To know someone doesn’t mean to know every detail of that person’s life.
It means to feel affection, confidence and to believe in that person. –Inspirations

Why am I afraid to tell you who I am?
Because it’s all I have, and you mightn’t like me. –Inspirations

More is not enough. Compulsion is loss of control and continuation of the behavior despite the consequences. –Inspirations

I don’t have to like you, I only have to love you.
What if I cared instead of judged –Inspirations

Compulsive sex is really a demonstration of loneliness
Step Five is humility and honesty providing liberty –Inspirations

Fear is optional, it’s an illusion
Self-pity is me not being liked when I want it –Inspirations

Don’t judge your interior by others exteriors
We are created lovable –Inspirations

Prayer doesn’t change the problem,
it changes the person –Inspirations

Anger is not a solution.
The road to recovery is always under construction. –Inspirations

Law of Sobriety: You can’t fall off the floor.
To feel good about yourself, do things that really matter to you. –Inspirations

Loneliness happens when you build walls instead of bridges. Every time you don’t follow your inner guidance, you feel loss of energy, power, a sense of spiritual deadness.

Although we always seem to be waiting for the “big one” – big love, big money, big toys – there is something special in the small things. As A.A. Milne once wrote through his creation Winnie the Pooh, “Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.” –Dr. Charles, Coach MD

A good love relationship can reinforce self-esteem, but it cannot create it. Many people carry a lot of unfinished business from childhood into relationships, and look to their partners to fulfill their unmet needs. So you get immature, dependency-type relationships that tend not to work. The more you can complete unfinished business from childhood, the better your chance in relationships as an adult. –Nathaniel Branden/The Art of Living Consciously

Forgiveness is an inner correction that lightens the heart. It is for our peace of mind first. Being at peace, we will now have peace to give to others, and this is the most permanent and valuable gift we can possibly give. –Gerald Jampolsky

“Character is defined by what we are willing to do when the spotlight is turned off, when the applause has died down, and no one is around to give us credit. –Unknown

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly. –Buddha

Do not let the newcomer’s inner child run our meetings.
This is not play therapy. –Inspirations

I slept and dreamt that life was joy.
I awoke and saw that life was service.
I acted and behold, service was joy. –Rabindranath Tagore

God does not ask your ability or your inability.
He asks only your availability. –Mary Kay Ash

Love at first sight is easy to understand. It’s when two people have been looking at each other for years that it becomes a miracle. –Sam Levenson

You are a child of God. You are a child of Light.  The Soul that is your true identity resides naturally in love and joy. –John-Roger

Message of Peace
May there always be work for your hands to do;
May your purse always hold a coin or two;
May the sun always shine on your windowpane;
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;
May the hand of a friend always be near you;
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you. –Inspirations

Take today and make it beautiful.
We can be serious about our work without being serious about ourselves –Inspirations

The solution is simple. The solution is spiritual. –Anon
The first step to knowledge is to know that we are ignorant. –Inspirations

Happiness is not in our circumstances, but in ourselves. –Anon You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of. –Jim Rohn

Nothing is worth more than this day. –Goethe
It is a sign of strength, not of weakness, to admit that you don’t know all the answers. –John P. Lougbrane

There are two ways to slide easily through life: To believe everything or to doubt everything. Both ways save us from thinking. –Alfred Korzybski

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage. –Lao Tzu

Worry wastes today’s time, cluttering tomorrow’s opportunities with yesterday’s troubles. Common sense is often wisdom clothed in work clothes. –Amish Proverbs

Take care of your own emotional and spiritual needs first and it will become natural to reach out lovingly to others. Delighting in the happiness of others will make your heart too big for your body. –Inspirations

If you find only defects when you look into a mirror, you are definitely missing something. God did not talk about how much He loves us. He showed us by sending us His Son.  –Inspirations

Wisdom doesn’t necessarily come with age.
Sometimes age just shows up all by itself. –Tom Wilson

Every flower must grow through dirt. –Author Unknown
No one can make you feel inferior without your permission. –Eleanor Roosevelt

Sobriety is four-fold: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.
Physical sobriety comes from not drinking. –Chuck C /A New Pair Of Glasses.

Grace is when we notice the near-misses we survived
instead of the wishes that didn’t come true. –Nancy Hull-Mast

A mistake repeated more than once is a decision. –Paulo Coelho
Anger is a condition in which the tongue works faster than the mind. –Anonymous

Don’t allow yourself to live in constant anticipation
because the time for your happiness is right now. –Inspirations

Everywhere we turn, there is so much need and so little time.
The aim of education is the knowledge not of fact, but of values. –Dean William R. Inge

Anything Beyond Survival Is Spiritual –Rabbi Jacobson
Having a resentment is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die. –unknown

When you talk, you can only say something you already know.
When you listen, you may learn something somebody else knows. –Inspirations

My opportunity for happiness is guaranteed if I opt for it today.
I Was Born At A Very Early Age –Inspirations

The future is always beginning now. –Mark Strand
The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time. –Abraham Lincoln

Enjoy God’s handiwork all around you. –Susan D. Petropulos
In daily life we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy. –@LifeLimits

NB: Inspirations is a daily recovery e-publication published 2013 to 2016 and was superseded by Morning Helpers

Good habits are as addictive as bad habits, and a lot more rewarding. –Harvey Mackay

Don’t try to hog loneliness and keep it all to yourself. Share it with a special someone. –Jarod Kintz

I’m very polite by nature, even the voices in my head let each other finish their sentences. –Graham Parke

Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time.
Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. –M. Scott Peck

Practicing the program, I learned to trust God, not just believe in Him. –Ron C.

Let your ears hear what your mouth says. –Jewish Proverb

Seek first to understand, then to be understood. –Stephen Covey

Don’t worry about finding your feelings; they will find you. –Anon

Change yourself and those around you will change too. –Anon
Peace comes not from having no problems, but from being able to deal with them. –Anon

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another. –Hebrews 10:25

Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have. –Hyman Judah Schactel

If you judge people, you have no time to love them. –Mother Theresa

Few of us realize that God is all we need until God is all we have –Anon

With our blessings come responsibilities. Much is required of those to whom much has been given. –Anon

A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger. –Proverbs 16:1

I may not know how to make it better, but I sure know how to make it worse. –Anon

Life is what happens to us while we’re making other plans. –Thomas La Mance

It can be difficult to accept the truth, but eventually most of it will make sense.
The value of persistent prayer is not that He will hear us, but we will finally hear Him. –William McGill

Do not take any action until you’ve prayed and listened and then you will have guidance to reach the understanding necessary to complete the things you need to do. Rejoice and be happy for others when they are blessed.–Unknown

Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do… but how much love we put in that action. –Mother Teresa

Joy increases as you give it, and diminishes as you try to keep it for yourself. In giving it, you will accumulate a deposit of joy greater than you ever believed possible. –Norman Vincent Peale

There are far more solutions than problems and knowing this is very empowering.

No gift is so precious as love. Gratefully trust God and give Him your love.

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.

Infatuation with our past life tends to produce a false sense of security based on wishful thinking.

Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down. –Proverbs 26:20

The experience of reality does not have to be postponed. –“AA’s Steps Lead to Spiritual Awakening”, Hankins, N.Y., May 1967

I’m usually about eighty percent of the problem – well, maybe sixty percent, but the major part, you can bet on that. If I can leave out the largest percent (me), there is hardly any problem at all! –“Growth,” Houston, TX, June 1976/Emotional Sobriety: The Next Frontier –Grapevine

Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have. –Hyman Judah Schactel

If you judge people, you have no time to love them. –Mother Theresa

Few of us realize that God is all we need until God is all we have –Anon

With our blessings come responsibilities. Much is required of those to whom much has been given. –Anon

A soft answer turneth away wrath; but grievous words stir up anger. –Proverbs 16:1

I may not know how to make it better, but I sure know how to make it worse. –Anon

Practicing the program, I learned to trust God, not just believe in Him. –Ron C.

Let your ears hear what your mouth says. –Jewish Proverb

Seek first to understand, then to be understood. –Stephen Covey

Don’t worry about finding your feelings; they will find you. –Anon

Change yourself and those around you will change too. –Anon

Peace comes not from having no problems, but from being able to deal with them. –Anon

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another. –Hebrews 10:25

Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time.
Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. –M. Scott Peck

Good habits are as addictive as bad habits, and a lot more rewarding. –Harvey Mackay

Don’t try to hog loneliness and keep it all to yourself. Share it with a special someone. –Jarod Kintz

I’m very polite by nature, even the voices in my head let each other finish their sentences. –Graham Parke

Spirituality is about being true to yourself. Religion is about being true to something or someone else. –Anon

You were not created for pleasure, but for Joy. –Anon

There’s no point in burying a hatchet if you’re going to put up a marker on the site. –Sydney Harris

The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts. –Albert Einstein

Your life is the product of your awareness. Every choice follows from that, and so does every step of growth. –Deepak Chopra

Pleasure is a by-product. Do not seek pleasure as such. Pleasure comes of seeking something else, and comes by the way. –A. Lawrence Lowell

Honesty gets us sober, tolerance keeps us sober.

A somebody was once a nobody who wanted to and did. –John Burroughs

Until you learn to love yourself the door is locked to someone else –The Head and The Heart

We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. –Joseph Campbell

Recovery asks us to surrender and accept. –God Grant Me

Begin to be now what you will be hereafter. –William James

Shed shame and heal. –Barbara Theodosiou

Pride makes us artificial and humility makes us real. –Thomas Merton

Who dares to teach must never cease to learn. –John Cotton Dana

Be teachable. You’re not always right. –Anonymous

Do not fear going forward slowly; fear only to stand still. –Chinese Proverb

Love and courage often work together for our own good and the good of others. –Answers In The Day

Little by little, day by day, what is meant for you will find its way… –Unknown

Forgiveness has healed my soul. –Grapevine: May 2008

If you want love, give love, if you want honesty, give honesty, if you want respect, give respect. You get in return, what you give! Life is a mirror…choose the reflection you want to see daily! –Anonymous

It gives one a feeling of nobility to admit one’s mistakes. By fighting, you never get enough, but by yielding, you get more than you expected. –Lawrence G. Lovasik

A lot of us would like to move mountains, but few of us are willing to practice on small hills. –Anonymous

It’s more important to feel happy about who I am than who I think I should be. –Unknown

Inspirations never go in for long engagements; they demand immediate marriage to action. –Brendan Francis

Try not to become a person of success. Rather become a person of value. –Albert Einstein

Always remember you’re unique . . . just like everyone else. –Unknown

When I let go of what I am, I can become what I might be. –Anon

Be teachable. You’re not always right. –Anonymous

Many people haven’t even a nodding acquaintance with humility as a way of life. –Anon

Wrinkles should merely indicate where the smiles have been. –Mark Twain

Every man in spiritual development needs a daily pattern of meditation and reflection. -Stepping Stones | More…

The secret to living well and longer is, eat half, walk double, laugh triple, and love without measure.. –Tibetan Proverb

The spiritual experience most of us have is a quiet realization that we are alive, here on Earth. –Day By Day

Kindness (noun): Loaning someone your strength instead of reminding them of their weakness. –Anonymous

It is important that we practice thinking about consequences, before we make decisions about choices.

The most precarious thing is to try and live without a HP/God.

It’s not stress that kills us, it is our reaction to it. –Hans Selye

Yesterday is done, so be done with it. You did what you could. You made some mistakes, but you were “you” being “you” and that’s good enough…for now. May God bless you to learn and grow, and to be the best “you” you can be. –Prayables

Our lives were controlled by our desires. There was a constant need to bow to the demands of our addiction. It made all our decisions for us. There was no freedom. –Easy Does It

A gift inspires another gift, and a miracle inspires the next miracle. It’s got to start somewhere; it might as well start with you. –Scott Hamilton

Just act better than you feel –Polly P

You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make. –Jane Goodall

It is not God’s will that makes me miserable. It is my resistance to God’s will that makes me miserable. –Anonymous

The secret of success is constancy of purpose. –Benjamin Disraeli

You should not suffer the past. You should be able to wear it like a loose garment, take it off and let it drop. –Eva Jessye

When all else fails, read the instructions. –Agnes Allen

Failure is the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. –Henry Ford

Shame is about failure; guilt is about mistakes. Each day that we are sober we have the opportunity to begin again. –God Grant Me | More…

You are someone special. God has big plans for you. You have an obligation to live up to divine expectations. May you be blessed to deliver on your promise. –Prayables

Mistakes are painful when they happen, but years later a collection of mistakes is called experience. –Denis Waitley

I am learning to let go and live in the intensity of the here and now. –Answers In The Heart

I wouldn’t trust most people in AA with my sick cat if they were veterinarians. That helps me take everything I hear with a grain of salt. –The Fix

Democratic governments work without most of their citizens voting and so does AA. –The Fix