Twelve Steps Quotes

In 1935, when there were no other programs, the founders of AA, Bill Wilson and Dr. Robert Smith, stepped up to the plate and took action to help a crippled population. All credit for the establishment of their wonderful, life-saving group goes to them and to those who came after them who have continued the tradition. However, there are hundreds of millions of people who still need help who are not among the estimated two or three million who attend twelve-step meetings.

1.tWe admitted we were powerless over our emotions, that our lives had become unmanageable.2.tCame to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.3.tMade a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.4.tMade a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.5.tAdmitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.6.tWere entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.7.tHumbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.8.tMade a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.9.tMade direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.10.tContinued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.11.tSought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.12.tHaving had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to emotionally and mentally ill persons and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Jerry Hirschfield