Step Nine:
“Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.”
GOOD judgment, a careful sense of timing, courage, and prudence—these are the qualities we shall need when we take Step Nine.

Step Eight:
“Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.”
… Having carefully surveyed this whole area of human relations, and having decided exactly what personality traits in us injured and disturbed others, we can now commence to ransack …

Step Seven:
“Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.”
SINCE this Step so specifically concerns itself with humility, we should pause here to consider what humility is and what the practice of it can mean to us.

Step Six:
“Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.”
“This is the Step that separates the men from the boys.” So declares a well-loved clergyman who happens to be one of A.A.’s greatest friends.

Step Five:
“Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.”
ALL OF A.A.’s Twelve Steps ask us to go contrary to our natural desires . . . they all deflate our egos.

Step Four:
“Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.”
CREATION gave us instincts for a purpose. Without them we wouldn’t be complete human beings. If men and women didn’t exert themselves …

Step Three:
“Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, as we understood Him.”
PRACTICING Step Three is like the opening of a door which to all appearances is still closed and locked.

Step Two:
“Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.”
THE moment they read Step Two, most A.A. newcomers are confronted with a dilemma, sometimes a serious one.

Step One:
“We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.”
Who cares to admit complete defeat? Practically no one, of course.

Step Twelve:
Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.