Namaste'.  When I first started to collect these sayings, it was to save my life. Eventually, I started to save little tidbits that inspired me to look at life and people in a different light. I hope they will be of some help to you.

1. I drank to lower my IQ so I could talk with normal people. (me)

2. Honesty gets us sober, tolerance keeps us sober. (Bill W.)

3. The good is often the enemy of the best. (Bill W.)

4. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. (Jesus)

5. If you speak and act with pure thoughts - happiness follows you. (Buddha)

6. What's for you, won't go by you. (Grapevine)

7. Your worth should never depend on another persons opinion.

8. HALT - Don't get too:
   • Hungry
   • Angry
   • Lonely
   • Tired

9. Don't get into a bad place through PIP:
   • Pride
   • Impatience
   • Projection

10. If God is for me, who can be against me.

11. Coincidence is God's work - when He chooses to remain anonymous. (Charlotte S.)

12. God makes me strong. I see myself as I really am - strong. With God's help, I am not weak. I have what it takes. Thank you God for my strength.

13. God is love, God is all. (my mantra)

14. We are not punished for our sins, we are punished by our sins. (Buddha)

15. Never confuse loneliness or lust for love. (me)

16. Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.

17. Renoir was painting with only his fingertips because arthritis twisted and cramped his hands - when asked why he continued to paint answered "The pain passes, but the beauty remains."

18. When one door closes, another one opens. It's the dark hallways that scare us. (Roz A.)

19. When one door closes, another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us. (Kahlil Gibran)

20. The wise man seeks everything within himself. The ignorant man takes everything from others.

21. The wise man has many cuts, the happy man doesn't count the scars.

22. God, thank you for having faith in me till I gained faith in you. (me)

23. When the right time comes for us to move on to other things - God withdraws from us the sense of His presence in order to strengthen our faith. (Thomas Merton)

24. If ye have faith - nothing shall be impossible to you. (Bible)

25. Your real wealth can be measured not by what you have, but by what you are.

26. That which does not kill us, makes us stronger. (Friedrich W. Nietzsche)

27. Money doesn't buy happiness, but it allows you to look in more interesting places.

28. Living a good life is the greatest revenge.

29. Give us 90 days and if your life doesn't get better, we will gladly refund your misery.

30. No matter where you go...there you are.

31. They have to do what they have to do.

32. Easy Does It.

33. One day at a time.

34. Sometimes Gods rejection is Gods protection.

35. Allergy: Excess sensitiveness to certain substances which are harmless to most persons. (Dictionary)

36. Abandon: To give over or surrender completely; to give up with the intent of never again claiming one's rights or interests in; to give oneself up without attempt at self control. (Dictionary)

37. Delusion: Any determination to hold onto an attitude, opinion or belief in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary. (Dictionary)

38. Insanity: The seeming inability to learn from one's mistakes. (Dictionary)

39. Bondage: Slavery; restraint of a person's liberty by compulsion. (Dictionary)

40. Defect: a shortcoming, fault or imperfection. (Dictionary)

41. Resentment is the number one blockade to spiritual growth. (Norman Vincent Peale)

42. Self-restraint - I would rather be comfortable than right.

43. In accepting and turning over my life and will to God - I also have to accept and turn over other's lives and wills to God. (me)

44. Do Daily:
    • Am I meditating and getting closer to God?
    • Am I eating and exercising correctly?
    • Am I keeping up on my obligations and commitments?
    • What am I doing for my pleasure?

45. Keep in the solution - NOT in the problem.

46. If you feel guilty - stop doing what's making you feel guilty.

47. Stick with the winners and win with the stickers.

48. Stinking thinking leads to drinking.

49. Here's a question you can ask every 10 seconds to someone who's upset:
    • Are you Ok right now?
    • Are you OK right now?
    • Are you OK right now?
    • Every right now is all right!!!

50. Remember the 2 men who fell off the pier - one drowned because he was struggling and fighting the water, the other floated into shore with life's support.

51. Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind. (Dr.Suess)

52. If there is pain, something is not free that should be free. (Dick M.)

53. Life is not painful, it's my resistance to life that causes me the pain. (Jeanne A.)

54. Unselfishness preserves life, whereas love of the ego kills it. (Mahatma Gandhi)

55. Do not worry about what others are doing - each of us should turn the searchlight inward and purify his heart as much as possible. (Mahatma Gandhi)

56. If you keep doing what you're doing - you'll keep getting what you're getting. (Johnny H.)

57. Alcoholism is the total disintegration of the human personality. (Joe F.)

58. Turn up a stereo to full volume then unplug it. In 2, 5,10 or 20 years later - if you plug it in again, the stereo will come on full volume. That's what alcoholism is like.

59. We AA's surrender to win; we give away to keep; we suffer to get well; and we die to live. (2nd edition Big Book Story)

60. In AA, we are each becoming whole again. When we come together, something magical happens - we become holy. (me)

61. AA is like riding a bicycle - you can coast for awhile but if you don't start pedaling, you'll soon fall on your ass. (Don G.)

62. Some ways to say no:
    • I have another commitment
    • I do not choose to participate
    • This is not acceptable to me
    • NO, thank you

63. Things have changed - I've tried it on for size but it no longer fits me. (Toni H.)

64. No is a complete sentence. (Alanon)

65. Alcohol gave me wings to fly, then it took away the sky. (Big Book)

66. A man takes the drink;
    The drink takes a drink;
    The drink takes the man.

67. Act as if ye have faith and faith will be given thee. (Bible)

68. Camels in a caravan kneel down in the evening and the camel-driver unload their burdens. In the morning, the camels kneel down again, and the camel-driver put the burdens back on. It's the same with prayer: we get on our knees to unload at night, and in the morning we get on our knees again. God gives us just the load we are able to carry that day. (Dr. Bob)

69. If I have to think about something in order to act differently, then no real change has taken place yet. (Hugh Prather)

70. The Rose in - both thorn and leaf - had the stem not accepted - had the rooting not accepted it's stem - had the seed not accepted it's rooting - it's entirety would never have - BLOOMED. (The Awakening)

71. 5 C's of 12 stepping:
    • Confidence - gain theirs by telling your story
    • Confession - they will tell their story
    • Conviction - they are convinced about disease and AA works
    • Conversion - they need to convert their thinking
    • Continence - don't let go of them; get them into action; don't baby them

72. I'm starting to become what I see. (Johnny H.)

73. Nature abhors a vacuum - I say that God abhors a vacuum and can't abide a vacuum anywhere under heaven, however small. All you have to do is get empty of self and automatically, you're full of God. (Meister Eckhard)

74. Alcohol plus damage = Alcoholism. (Dr. Jellinek)

75. AA life is made up of glorious years and some shitty days.

76. Sobriety: moderation in thought and deed. (Dictionary)

77. A slave's prayer:
    • Oh Lord, I ain't what I oughta be;
    • I ain't what I wanta be;
    • I ain't what I'm gonna be;
    • but oh Lord I thank you that I ain't what I usta be.

78. The 11th commandment: A new commandment I give you , love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. (Bible - John 13.34)

79. I am what I am, naked before God - nothing more, nothing less.

80. An alcoholic comes apart spiritually, mentally and then physically. You put him back together again in the reverse order. You can put him back together physically in a comparatively short time. It takes a much longer time to put him back together mentally, and a much, much longer time to get him together spiritually. (Fr Hilary D.)

81. Hell: Complete separation from both man and God. (Ecclesiastical dictionary)

82. Axiom: A self-evident truth that requires no proof.(Dictionary)

83. I've discovered that miracles are possible without my consent. (Cubby S.)

84. I don't believe in miracles - I depend on them. (Ritchie A.)

85. If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.

86. When it's OK to stay - THEN it's OK to go.

87. Our defiance and grandiosity springs from a persisting infantile ego, characteristically filled with feelings of omnipotence, demands for direct gratification of wishes and a proneness to interpret frustration as evidence of rejection and lack of love. (Dr. Tiebout)

88. There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse; as I have found in traveling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place. (Washington Irving)

89. Lord - if I cannot have what I want --- help me want what I have TODAY.

90. Your faith will never operate above the level of the words of your mouth. (Rev Fred Price)

91. Anything that is counterproductive to love is a defect. Anything counterproductive to honesty is dishonest. Shortcomings are a thing you didn't do that you should have done. A defect is a thing you did that you shouldn't have done. (Paul K.)

92. Love - acceptance without judgment (of yourself as well as others). (Jeanne JT)

93. Dear God - will you please remove from my life whatever is offensive. (Jeanne JT)

94. Are you a foot stepper or a God truster? (Jeanne JT)

95. Serenity does not mean the lack of any stress or tension - rather it means the inner security that enables us to bear the stresses and to use them as occasions for growth. (Jeanne JT)

96. I will selfishly go to any lengths to obtain, maintain and defend my sobriety so that through the action of this program I will grow to be unselfish. (Jeanne JT)

97. Am I interfering in the experience God wants them to have? (Jeanne JT)

98. Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift---that's why it's called the present. (Jeanne JT)

99. Nor can men and women of AA ever forget that only through suffering did they find enough humility to enter the portals of that new world. How privileged we are to understand so well the divine paradox that strength rises from weakness; that humiliation goes before resurrection; that pain is not only the price but the very touchstone of spiritual rebirth. (Bill W.)

100. Who you see here; what you hear here; when you leave here; let it stay here.

101. Takers are losers, Givers are winners. (John H.)

102. When I take the third step prayer, self concern has no further place in my life. (Chuck C.)

103. The measure of your anxiety is the measure of your distance from God. (Chuck C.)

104. The answer is not in the problem, the answer is in the answer. "If I focus on a problem, the problem increases; if I focus on the answer, the answer increases."

105. Humility is a state of mind that comes from a realistic and relatively accurate knowledge of ones abilities and limitations. (dictionary)

106. To those who have made progress in AA, humility amounts only to a clear recognition of what and who we really are, followed by a sincere attempt to become what we can be. (Bill W.)

107. Beatitudes are the attitudes to be. (Gwen S.)

108. Why do we keep going to the well when we know it's dry? (Alanon)

109. If there is a disturbance deep inside of me - if anything from the outside disturbs, distresses or presents a conflict in my life - there's something I should be doing that I'm not doing or there's something I'm doing that I shouldn't be doing. I sit down in my rocker until I figure it out with God. (Patsy R.)

110. From the book Illusions:
     • Your only obligation is to be true to yourself
     • You teach best what you most need to learn
     • Argue for your limitations and sure enough, they're yours
     • I do not exist to impress the world. I exist to live my life in a way that will make me happy.
     • You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it true. You may have to work for it, however.

111. Where God guides, God provides.

112. You can act your way into the right thinking, but you can't think your way into the right action. (William James)

113. In order to give up my defects of character, I must first give up the benefits of my defects of character. Twenty seconds of ecstasy isn't worth three weeks of guilt. (Sean A.)

114. You don't get drunk making mistakes - you get drunk defending the mistakes you've made. (Clancy I.)

115. God cannot do for you what he cannot do through you.

116. Only God can fix what God has made. (Barbara P.)

117. I do God's work not God's job. (Clara S.)

118. Don't react to the present the way I reacted to the past.

119. Humility is like underwear, it's necessary but it's indecent if it shows.

120. Not only was I ignorant - I was ignorant that I was ignorant.

121. Compulsive drinking is an outer manifestation of the alcoholics inner anguish. (Alanon)

122. The 3 C's: Didn't cause it, can't cure it, and can't control it. (Alanon)

123. The five stages of a terminal patient:
     • Denial
     • Anger
     • Bargain
     • Depression
     • Acceptance

124. Don't be so humble, you're not that great.

125. Excessive drinking is the symptom of a deeper trouble as coughing is a symptom of tuberculosis. (AA booklet)

126. God is a comedian playing to an audience who's afraid to laugh. (Voltaire)

127. It takes a passion to conquer a passion.

128. Trust in Allah, but tie up your camel. (Old Arab Saying)

129. If they're ready, you can't say anything wrong. If they're not ready, you can't say anything right.

130. Life is a millstone - YOU decide if it's going to grind you down or polish you up.

131. Surrender means being willing to follow someone else's direction.

132. We surround ourselves with the image of ourselves. (Emerson)

133. What you are must always displease you, if you would attain to that which you are not. (St. Augustine)

134. Be aware that tomorrow's resentments are fed by today's expectations. (Bill R.)

135. GOD ~ Good Orderly Direction.

136. No God - No Peace; Know God - Know Peace.

137. The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.(Winston Churchill)

138. Suffering because life cannot satisfy selfish desire is like suffering because a banana tree will not bear mangoes. (Buddha)

139. The sun can give heat and light to the whole world, but it can do nothing when the clouds are in the sky and shut out its rays. Similarly, so long as egoism is in the soul, God cannot shine upon the heart. (Ramakrishna)

140. An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out? (Michel de Saint-Pierre)

141. A joy shared is twice the joy, a pain shared is half the pain.

142. Acceptance: What is ...IS; what isn't...ISN'T.

143. Go to ninety meetings in ninety days. If you're not satisfied, we'll gladly refund your misery.

144. Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so. (Shakespeare)

145. Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be. (Abraham Lincoln)

146. A goal is a dream with a deadline!

147. Rule 62...don't take yourself too damned seriously. (AA Comes of Age - page 104)

148. Those who laugh - last.

149. God gave us two ears and one mouth. Listen twice as much as you talk.

150. Life is like an onion; you peel it one layer at a time; and sometimes you cry. (Carl Sandberg)

151. "All of Buddha's teachings can be expressed in two sentences. 'You must help others' and, 'If you can't help, you should not harm others.' " (The Dalai Lama)

152. Worry is just negative goal-setting.

153. Worry is a waste of imagination.

154. All men are self-made, but only the successful will admit it.

155. "God has a plan for you...and what it is is none of your business." (A Buddhist Monk)

156. A God defined - is a God confined.

157. Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die. (Malacky McCourt)

158. The Big Book is your road map, the meetings are your filling stations.

159. You can no longer deceive yourself as sincerely as you did before.

160. Learn to let go. That is the key to happiness. (Buddha)

161. Be here now! (Ram Dass)

162. We are all here because we're not all there.

163. We come to the program thinking we are at the end of the line, whereas we are just at the start of a journey. (Linda M.)

164. Thou seest many stars at night in the sky, but findest them not when the sun rises. Canst thou say that there are no stars, then, in the heaven of the day? So, O man, because thou beholdest not the Almighty in the days of thy ignorance, say not that there is no God. (Ramakrishna)

165. Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent. (Eleanor Roosevelt)

166. Lead me from darkness to the light, lead me from ignorance to truth, lead me from bondage to freedom, lead me from death to immortality. (Upanishads)

167. When we are new, we are used to short term gain for long term pain. As we grow, we gladly choose short term pain for long term gain. (In other words, 1 hour in the sack with someone I shouldn't be with is not worth years of guilt and emotional pain.)

168. I know God won't give me anything I can't handle, I just wish He didn't trust me so much. (Mother Teresa)

169. The great curse of a cheat is not that no one trusts him but that he can trust no one. (Hugh D.)

170. Although we are not responsible for our disease, we are responsible for our recovery. (NA)

171. If I don't take a drink for 364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 55 seconds I'm still just 5 seconds away from my next drunk! And each 24 hours that I don't take that drink, I am a miracle. (Wade)

172. I've got some good news and some bad news for you:
        The good news is that you're not in charge;
        The bad news is that you're not in charge.

173. Please, Lord, make me pure...but not yet. (St Augustine)

174. I've discovered a strange thing about people...they are going to be where they want to be.

175. When you get sober you can write down all the gifts you get...when you go out you can reverse the pencil and erase each gift one by one.

176. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. (Proverbs 18:21)

177. If you understand, things are just as they are;
     if you do not understand, things are just as they are. (Zen proverb)

178. If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.

179. The problem with isolating is that you get such bad advice.

180. I'm here to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.

181. SLIP ~ Sobriety Loses It's Priority.

182. If you don't take a 4th, you'll soon pick up a 5th.

183. Now I can wake up and say, "Good morning, God!" instead of "Good God, it's morning!"

184. A traveler am I and a navigator, and every day I discover a new region within my soul. (Kahlil Gibran)

185. People who don't go to meetings aren't there to see what happens to people who don't go to meetings.

186. I shall pass through this world but once. Any good, therefore, that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again. (Stephen Grellet)

187. All the happiness there is in this world comes from thinking about others, and all the suffering comes from preoccupation with yourself. (Shantideva)

188. The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not. (Mark Twain)

189. Dear Lord,
            Thank you for what you have given me;
            For what you have taken away from me;
            And for what you have left me.

190. Whenever a relationship ends, I find it best to acknowledge and pray:
            Thank you God for bringing her/him into my life;
            Thank you God for taking her/him out of my life;
            Thank you God for that which is yet to come.

191. You are not dysfunctional, you just function differently. (Said to me by my daughter Kathy)

192. We must substitute faith for fear, for fear is only inverted faith; it is faith in evil instead of good.

193. Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain. (Emerson)

194. When I turned myself over to God, I took my life out of the hands of an idiot

195. There are two emotions: Love and Fear. The first is our natural inheritance, and the other our mind manufactures. (Course in Miracles)

196. FEAR: False Evidence Appearing Real.

197. FEAR: Fuck Everything And Run.

198. FEAR: Face Everything And Recover.

199. If you want to make ends meet .... GET OFF YOURS! (Dr Kenneth McFarland)

200. Let go or be dragged.

201. A strong belief in your sponsor is better than a weak belief in a Higher Power. (Clancy)

202. We may not have had the happiest childhoods, but we certainly have had the longest.

203. The less full of ourselves we are, the more room there is for others.

204. If you are not as close to God as you once were, who moved!

205. Procrastination is the gap between intention and action.

206. The secret to acceptance is not in getting what you want but in wanting what you get.

207. OK...get off the cross, we need the wood.

208. If nothing changes...nothing changes.

209. You cannot stumble when you are on your knees.

210. First 3 steps: I can't, He can, I think I'll let Him.

211. I can do all things through God who strengthens me. (Bible)

212. The best message carrier in history was Paul Riviere...He rode from town to town calling out "The British are coming, the British are coming" and not once did he get off his horse to help them pack.

213. People often need love the most when they deserve it the least.

214. Friends are Gods apology for your relatives. (Riley)

215. Happy moments, praise God.
     Difficult moments, seek God.
     Quiet moments, worship God.
     Painful moments, trust God.
     Every moment, thank God.

216. Failure is not fatal...only failure to get back up is. (John C. Maxwell)

217. Grace: An unmerited, unwarranted, unearned gift.

218. Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right. (Henry Ford)

219. You can no longer deceive yourself as sincerely as you could before. (Ouspensky)

220. Worrying is like being in a rocking chair, It gives you something to do but does not get you anywhere.

221. The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time. (Abraham Lincoln)

222. The world never puts a price on you higher than the one you put on yourself. (Sonja Henie)

223. That which we persist in doing becomes easier, not that the task itself has become easier, but that our ability to perform it has improved. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

224. Life is God's gift to you. What you do with your life is your gift to God.

225. When your mouth is closed, you can't put your foot in it.

226. If man can take a piece of moldy bread and make penicillin out of it... just consider for a moment what a loving God can make out of you.

227. Remember...there is only 18 inches between a halo and a noose.

228. Nothing will change until you change.

229. The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.

230. If I ever get into heaven it will be from backing away from hell. (Fr Ed Dowling)

231. Whatever you believe, with conviction, WILL become your reality.

232. Two men looked out through prison bars,
     One saw the mud, the other saw the stars.

233. We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them. (Kahlil Gibran)

234. Alcoholism:
     Fun
     Fun plus problems
     Problems.

235. Children begin by loving their parents; as they grow older they judge them; sometimes, they forgive them. (Oscar Wilde)

236. When I approach a wall of fear, it usually turns out to be merely a waterfall.

237. You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

238. Say what you mean and mean what you say; just don't say it meanly. (Alanon)

239. I'm not upset that you lied to me, I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you. (Nietzsche)

240. The end is where we start from.

241. People change when the pain not to change exceeds the pain to change.

242. Our brains cannot concentrate on numerous thoughts at the same time so when mine goes astray I do a mantra like : God is love, God is all. My brain will latch onto that mantra and the bad negative thought go away.

243. When FEAR knocks on the door, let FAITH answer it.

244. Every right now is all right. (Chick P.)

245. A meeting a day keeps the monsters away.

246. Every thought you have is a prayer. Either for something you want or something you don't want. (Chuck C.)

247. Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony. (Mahatma Gandhi)

248. Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming "WOW -- What a Ride!"

249. "The alcoholic slip is not a symptom of a psychotic condition. There's nothing screwy about it at all. The patient simply didn't follow directions." (Dr Silkworth)

250. God always answers my prayers in 1 of 4 ways...yes; no; wait a while; and Jim you have got to be kidding.

251. Acceptance doesn't mean approval.

252. Just when the caterpillar thought the world was ending, he turned into a butterfly. (Proverbs)

253. The next 2 lines after the Lord's prayer: "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you don't forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

254. Humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less. (C.S. Lewis)

255. Few get to become old-timers and the problem is, each year, the few keep getting fewer.

256. Success is getting what you want and happiness is wanting what you get.

257. Life must be lived forwards, but can only be understood backwards. (Soren Kierkegaard)

258. It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. (Epictetus)

259. Your mind will always believe what you tell it.
     Feed it Faith,
     Feed it Truth,
     Feed it Love.
     

260. Our purpose in BB:
     xvii
     14-15
     20
     77
     89
     97
     102
     119
     159
     

261. I've seen gays turn straight, I've seen straights turn gay, I've seen hookers turn virtuous and virtuous women turn honest.(Big Mike R)

262. A young man approached a holy man and asked him "How can I find peace and serenity in my life?"
     
     Without saying a word the holy man took his hand and led him into the river. Then he grabbed his head and held it under the water for a long time. When he finally let the young man up he asked him "What was your number one thought when you were under the water?"
     
     The young man said "Air...I wanted air."
     
     The holy man replied "Fine, when you want peace and serenity as much as you wanted air...then you’ll find it."

263. MY closing prayer:
         I might wish you wealth,
         or I might wish you health,
         or that good fortune would caress you...
         But wealth might bring sorrow,
         good health could fail tomorrow,
         so I'll simply say GOD Bless You!!!

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