Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How More Than One Hundred Men Have Recovered from Alcoholism is a 1939 basic text, describing how to seek recovery from alcoholism. The Big Book was written by William G. “Bill W.” Wilson, one of the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, with the help of various editors.
Big Book Quotes
1. “We talked of intolerance, while we were intolerant ourselves.”
2. “When I am unwilling to do the right thing, I become restless, irritable, and discontent.”
3. “Four Horsemen–Terror, Bewilderment, Frustration, and Despair.”
4. “Our liquor was but a symptom. So we had to get down to causes and conditions.”
5. “When I am disturbed, it is because I find some person, place, or situation – some fact of my life – unacceptable to me, and I can find no serenity until I accept that person, place, thing, or situation as being exactly the way it is supposed to be at this moment.”
6. “Many of us felt that we had plenty of character. There was a tremendous urge to cease forever. Yet we found it impossible. This is the baffling feature of alcoholism as we know it – this utter inability to leave it alone, no matter how great the necessity or the wish.”
7. “Selfishness, self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate.”
8. “Men and women drink essentially because they like the effect produced by alcohol. The sensation is so elusive that, while they admit it is injurious, they cannot after a time differentiate the true from the false. To them, their alcoholic life seems the only normal one.”
9. “The idea that somehow, someday he will control and enjoy his drinking is the great obsession of every abnormal drinker.”
10. “I listened to their stories and found so many areas where we overlapped – not all the deeds, but the feelings of remorse and hopelessness. I learned that alcoholism isn’t a sin, it’s a disease.”
11. “When I am willing to do the right thing I am rewarded with an inner peace no amount of liquor could ever provide.”
12. “The feeling of having shared in a common peril is one element in the powerful cement which binds us.”
13. “If we still cling to something we will not let go, we ask God to help us be willing.”
14. “Those events that once made me feel ashamed and disgraced now allow me to share with others how to become a useful member of the human race.”
15. “On awakening let us think about the twenty-four hours ahead. We consider our plans for the day. Before we begin, we ask God to direct our thinking, especially asking that it be divorced from self-pity, dishonest or self-seeking motives.”
16. “We missed the reality and the beauty of the forest because we were diverted by the ugliness of some of its trees.”
17. “Adversity truly introduces us to ourselves.”
18. “And acceptance is the answer to all my problems today.”
19. “We constantly remind ourselves we are no longer running the show, humbly saying to ourselves many times each day “Thy will be done.” We are then in much less danger of excitement, fear, anger, worry, self-pity, or foolish decisions.”
