Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition

We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness and democracy pervade the vessel from steerage to Captain’s table. Unlike the feelings of the ship’s passengers, however, our joy in escape from disaster does not subside as we go our individual ways.

I was willing to believe that A.A. was telling me the truth. I wanted to believe it was true in a way I cannot relate in words.

“Yes, that happened to me”; or, more important, “Yes, I’ve felt like that”; or, most important, “Yes, I believe this program can work for me too.”

It works—it really does.

if I stopped drinking, just for a while, maybe I could get a handle on things and then I could drink again.

and unless this person can experience an entire psychic change there is very little hope of his recovery.

These observations would be academic and pointless if our friend never took the first drink, thereby setting the terrible cycle in motion. Therefore, the main problem of the alcoholic centers in his mind, rather than in his body.

Over the course of my sobriety I have experienced many opportunities to grow. I have had struggles and achievements. Through it all I have not had to take a drink, nor have I ever been alone.

The program is a plan for a lifetime of daily living.