I have become a pupil of the AA movement rather than the teacher.
BILL W.If more gifts are to be received, our awakening has to go on. As it does go on, we find that bit by bit we can discard the old life – the one that did not work – for a new life that can and does work under any conditions whatever.
More Bill W. Quotes
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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.
BILL W. -
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.
BILL W. -
Apparently, the course of relative humility and progress will have to lie somewhere between these extremes. In our slow progress away from rebellion, true perfection is doubtless several millennia away
BILL W. -
Because of our kinship in suffering, our channels of contact have always been charged with the language of the heart.
BILL W. -
Honesty with ourselves & others gets us sober, but it is tolerance that keeps us that way.
BILL W. -
Indecision with the passing of time becomes decision.
BILL W. -
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.
BILL W. -
No personal calamity is so crushing that something true and great can’t be made of it
BILL W. -
Nowadays my brain no longer races compulsively in either elation, grandiosity, or depression. I have been given a quiet place in bright sunshine.
BILL W. -
We know that if we rebel against doing that which is reasonably possible for us, then we will be penalized. And we will be equally penalized if we presume in ourselves a perfection that simply is not there.
BILL W. -
For the wise have always known that no one can make much of his life until self-searching has become a regular habit, until he is able to admit and accept what he finds, and until he patiently and persistently tries to correct what is wrong.
BILL W. -
Is sobriety all that we are to expect of a spiritual awakening? No, sobriety is only a bare beginning; it is only the first gift of the first awakening.
BILL W. -
Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us.
BILL W. -
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.
BILL W. -
In the wake of my spiritual experience there came a vision of a society of alcoholics.
BILL W. -
AA is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted, under grace, into spiritual progress.
BILL W. -
You are asking yourself, as all of us must: ‘Who am I?’ . . . ‘Where am I?’ . . . ‘Whence do I go?’ The process of enlightenment is usually slow. But, in the end, our seeking always brings a finding. These great mysteries are, after all, enshrined in complete simplicity.
BILL W. -
Regardless of what is happening around me I will always have the prerogative, and the responsibility, of choosing what happens within me.
BILL W. -
Guilt is really the reverse side of the coin of pride. Guilt aims at self-destruction, and pride aims at the destruction of others.
BILL W. -
How dark it is before the dawn! In reality that was the beginning of my last debauch.
BILL W. -
The temporary good is enemy to the permanent best.
BILL W. -
We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired.
BILL W. -
The real question is whether we can learn anything from our experiences upon which we may grow and help others to grow in the likeness and image of God.
BILL W. -
If more gifts are to be received, our awakening has to go on. As it does go on, we find that bit by bit we can discard the old life – the one that did not work – for a new life that can and does work under any conditions whatever.
BILL W. -
If I judge others, I am probably judging myself. Whoever is upsetting me most is my best teacher. I have much to learn from him or her, and in my hearts, I should thank that person.
BILL W. -
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.
BILL W.