Bill W. Quotes

Quotes about:

• 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. 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.

  Spiritual, Sobriety, Doe

  218 Copy quote

• No matter how unreasonable others may seem, I am responsible for not reacting negatively. Regardless of what is happening around me I will always have the prerogative, and the responsibility, of choosing what happens within me. I am the creator of my own reality. When I [review my day], I know that I must stop judging others. 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.

  Teacher, Heart, Responsibility

  244 Copy quote

• 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.

  Ambition, Profound, Grace

  171 Copy quote

• Honesty with ourselves & others gets us sober, but it is tolerance that keeps us that way.

  Bill W.

  Honesty, Tolerance, Way

  178 Copy quote

• It must never be forgotten that the purpose of Alcoholics Anonymous is to sober up alcoholics. There is no religious or spiritual requirement for membership. No demands are made on anyone. An experience is offered which members may accept or reject. That is up to them.

  Bill W.

  Spiritual, Religious, Acceptance

  Robert Fitzgerald, Ed Dowling, Bill W. (1995). “The Soul of Sponsorship: The Friendship of Fr. Ed Dowling, S. J. and Bill Wilson in Letters”, p.32, Hazelden Publishing

  198 Copy quote

• I try hard to hold fast to the truth that a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion we can ever know.

  Bill W.

  Inspirational, Gratitude, Appreciation

  176 Copy quote

• 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.

  Wise, Patience, Self

  Bill W. (1953). “Twelve steps and twelve traditions”, Alcoholics Anonymous World Serv inc

  139 Copy quote

• No personal calamity is so crushing that something true and great can't be made of it

  Bill W.

  Crush, Made, Calamity

  142 Copy quote

• 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.

  Self Esteem, Pride, Guilt

  102 Copy quote

• 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.

  Simplicity, Enlightenment, Asking

  173 Copy quote

• In God's economy, nothing is wasted. Through failure, we learn a lesson in humility which is probably needed, painful though it is.

  Bill W.

  Inspirational, Recovery, Humility

  129 Copy quote

• 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.

  Sunshine, Race, Brain

  Robert Fitzgerald, Ed Dowling, Bill W. (1995). “The Soul of Sponsorship: The Friendship of Fr. Ed Dowling, S. J. and Bill Wilson in Letters”, p.135, Hazelden Publishing

  64 Copy quote

• Nothing can be more demoralizing than a clinging and abject dependence upon another human being. This often amounts to the demand for a degree of protection and love that no one could possibly satisfy. So our hoped for protectors finally flee, and once more we are left alone - either to grow up or to disintegrate.

  Bill W.

  Growing Up, And Love, Degrees

  158 Copy quote

• How dark it is before the dawn! In reality that was the beginning of my last debauch. I was soon to be catapulted into what I like to call the fourth dimension of existence. I was to know happiness, peace, and usefulness, in a way of life that is incredibly more wonderful as time passes.

  Bill W.

  Dark, Reality, Dawn

  Bill W. (1976). “Alcoholics Anonymous: the story of how many thousands of men and women have recovered from alcoholism”

  112 Copy quote

• Almost without exception alcoholics are tortured by loneliness.

  Bill W.

  Loneliness, Exception, Alcoholics

  Bill W. (1953). “Twelve steps and twelve traditions”, Alcoholics Anonymous World Serv inc

  94 Copy quote

• 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.

  Spiritual, Grace, Suffering

  90 Copy quote

• 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.

  Moving, Adventure, Men

  Bill W. (1953). “Twelve steps and twelve traditions”, Alcoholics Anonymous World Serv inc

  86 Copy quote

• Because of our kinship in suffering, our channels of contact have always been charged with the language of the heart.

  Bill W.

  Heart, Suffering, Language

  93 Copy quote

• Pain is the touchstone of all growth

  Bill W.

  Pain, Growth, Touchstones

  25 Copy quote

• We know that permanent sobriety can be attained only by a most revolutionary change in the life and outlook of the individual.

  Bill W.

  Sobriety, Revolutionary, Individual

  102 Copy quote

• 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.

  Inspirational, Recovery, Choices

  102 Copy quote

• Nothing matters more to AA's future welfare than the manner in which we use the colossus of modern communication. Used unselfishly and well, it can produce results surpassing our present imagination.

  Bill W.

  Communication, Imagination, Use

  71 Copy quote

• Only the self-deceived will claim perfect freedom from fear.

  Bill W.

  Fear, Self, Perfect

  15 Copy quote

• Indecision with the passing of time becomes decision.

  Bill W.

  Wisdom, Decision, Passing

  84 Copy quote

• 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. 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. 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.

  Wisdom, Real, Lying

  21 Copy quote

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