From the books ... Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
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... very acme
of humility.
12&12 p.149,
Tradition Four
Even the chief architect, standing in
the ruins of his dream,
could laugh at himself --
and that is the very acme of
humility.
2.
... very ancient.
12&12 p.56,
Step Five
3.
... very anxious
that we talk to the ...
BB p.74,
Into Action
4.
... very bad,
and that ended the beer ...
BB p.178,
Doctor Bob's Nightmare
5.
... very bad
effect on him, too.
12&12 p.166,
Tradition Eight
When an A.A. talks for money, whether at a meeting or to a single newcomer, it can have a very
bad effect on him, too.
6.
... very bad
time of it in our ...
12&12 p.70,
Step Seven
7.
... very badly,
I said, "Let's make the ...
BB p.179,
Doctor Bob's Nightmare
Wishing to be polite, though I felt very badly, I said, "Let's make the call," and extracted from my wife a promise that we would not stay
over fifteen minutes.
8.
... very beginning
that we must never, no ...
12&12 p.176,
Tradition Ten
As by some deep instinct,
we A.A.'s have known from the
very beginning that we must never, no matter what the provocation, publicly
take sides in any fight, even a worthy one.
9.
... very beginning,
the couple ought to frankly ...
BB p.131,
The Family Afterward
At the very beginning,
the couple ought to frankly face the fact that each will have to yield here and there if the family is
going to play an effective part in the new life.
10.
... very best
sense of the word.
12&12 p.110,
Step Twelve
11.
... very best
we know or can learn.
12&12 p.65,
Step Six
The key words "entirely ready" underline the fact that we
want to aim at the very best we know or can learn.
12.
... very best
will do!'
12&12 p.138,
Tradition Two
13.
... very big
coin.
12&12 p.163,
Tradition Seven
14.
... very careful
not to criticize them.
BB p.83,
Into Action
We ought to sit down with the family and frankly analyze the past as we now see it, being very careful not to criticize them.
15.
... very character
defects they themselves were trying ...
12&12 p.56,
Step Five
They will tell how they tried to carry the load alone; how much they suffered of irritability, anxiety,
remorse, and depression; and how, unconsciously seeking
relief, they would sometimes accuse even their best friends of the very character defects they themselves were trying to
conceal.
16.
... very complete
and literal way, all A.A.'s ...
12&12 p.64,
Step Six
So in a very complete and
literal way, all A.A.'s have "become entirely ready" to have God remove the mania for alcohol from their
lives.
17.
... very curious
to know how you got ...
BB p.93,
Working With Others
Even though your protégé may not have entirely admitted his condition, he has become
very curious to know how you got well.
18.
... very dangerous,
especially to your husband.
BB p.117,
To Wives
19.
... very dearly
physically and, in hope of ...
BB p.174,
Doctor Bob's Nightmare
By this time I was beginning to pay very dearly physically and, in hope of
relief, voluntarily
incarcerated myself
at least a dozen times in one of the local sanitariums.
20.
Very deep,
sometimes quite forgotten, damaging emotional ...
12&12 p.79,
Step Eight
Very deep, sometimes quite forgotten, damaging emotional conflicts persist below the level of consciousness.
21.
... very defects
the objectionable questions are concerned ...
12&12 p.53,
Step Four
To these it can be suggested that a conscientious examination is likely to
reveal the very defects the objectionable questions are concerned
with.
22.
... very desirable
to take this spiritual step ...
BB p.63,
How It Works
We found it very desirable to take this spiritual step with an understanding person,
such as our wife, best friend, or spiritual adviser.
23.
... very deviations
created a vast process of ...
12&12 p.146,
Tradition Four
These very deviations created a vast process of trial and error which, under the grace of God, has brought us to where we stand
today.
24.
... very devil.
BB p.125,
The Family Afterward
Members of a family
should watch such matters carefully, for one careless, inconsiderate remark
has been known to raise the
very devil.
25.
... very different
from ours.
BB p.20,
There Is A Solution
26.
... very different
occasion, and in sharp contrast ...
12&12 p.84,
Step Nine
This will be a very different occasion, and
in sharp contrast with those hangover mornings when we alternated between reviling ourselves and
blaming the family (and
everyone else) for our troubles.
27.
... very different
snag.
12&12 p.79,
Step Eight
28.
... very different
voice.
12&12 p.142,
Tradition Three
29.
... very drunk,
unless he is ugly and ...
BB p.90,
Working With Others
30.
... very dubious
and improbable state of affairs.
12&12 p.106,
Step Twelve
31.
... very early
group, those scores have since ...
12&12 p.142,
Tradition Three
32.
... very early
in the morning shaking violently.
BB p.5,
Bill's Story
33.
Very earnestly
we ask the press also, ...
BB xiii,
Foreword to First Edition
Very earnestly we ask the press also, to observe this request, for otherwise we
shall be greatly handicapped.
34.
... very easy!
12&12 p.69,
Step Six
35.
... very encouraging
news for those who recoil ...
12&12 p.105,
Step Eleven
All this should be very encouraging news for those who recoil from prayer because they don't believe in it, or because
they feel themselves cut off from God's help and direction.
36.
... very enjoyable.
12&12 p.67,
Step Six
37.
... very expensive.
BB p.143,
To Employers
38.
... very far
advanced, there is scant chance ...
BB p.34,
More About Alcoholism
39.
... very few
A.A.'s have ever worked the ...
12&12 p.166,
Tradition Eight
This has always been so obvious that only a very few A.A.'s have ever worked the Twelfth Step for a fee.
40.
... very few
years they had completely lost ...
12&12 p.178,
Tradition Ten
When the Washingtonians became temperance crusaders, within a very few years they had completely
lost their effectiveness in helping alcoholics.
41.
... very first
attempt at a mood, a ...
12&12 p.101,
Step Eleven
This much could be a fragment of what is called
meditation, perhaps
our very first attempt at a mood, a flier into the realm of spirit, if you like.
42.
... very first
case, a desperate one, recovered ...
BB xvii,
Foreword to Second Edition
43.
... very foolish
and that I had better ...
BB p.173,
Doctor Bob's Nightmare
When I got the fog out of my brain, I decided that quitting school was very foolish and that I had better return and continue my work.
44.
... very form
of faulty dependence has caused ...
12&12 p.38,
Step Three
This very form of faulty dependence has caused many a rebellious alcoholic
to conclude that dependence of any sort must be intolerably damaging.
45.
... very good
causes and all connected with ...
12&12 p.170,
Tradition Eight
For this reason, some very
good causes and all connected with them suffered unjust criticism from A.A. groups.
46.
... very good,
in his case they did ...
BB p.27,
There Is A Solution
This hope, however, was destroyed by the doctor's
telling him that while his
religious convictions were very good, in his case they did not spell the necessary vital spiritual experience.
47.
... very good
indeed, but it is bound ...
12&12 p.40,
Step Three
More sobriety brought about by the admission of alcoholism and by attendance at a few meetings is very good indeed, but it is bound to be a far cry from permanent sobriety and a contented, useful life.
48.
... very good
ones.
12&12 p.119,
Step Twelve
49.
... very good
question indeed.
12&12 p.26,
Step Two
50.
Very gradually,
and usually without any realization ...
12&12 p.118,
Step Twelve
Very gradually, and usually without any realization of the fact, the wife is forced to become the mother of an erring boy.
51.
... very gradually
began to infiltrate my life.
12&12 p.27,
Step Two
52.
... very great
help in quieting stormy emotions.
12&12 p.90,
Step Ten
A spot-check inventory taken in the midst of such disturbances can be of very great help in quieting stormy emotions.
53.
... very great
one, was felt at once.
BB p.63,
How It Works
This was only a beginning, though if honestly and humbly made, an effect, sometimes a very great one, was felt at once.
54.
... very happy.
BB p.117,
To Wives
If you and your husband find a solution for the pressing problem of drink you are, of course, going to be very happy.
55.
... very happy.
BB p.156,
A Vision For You
56.
... very happy
and secure ourselves.
12&12 p.115,
Step Twelve
Where people had temporarily let us run their lives as though they were still children, we had felt very happy and secure ourselves.
57.
... very happy
homes.
12&12 p.117,
Step Twelve
58.
... very happy
results do follow.
12&12 p.120,
Step Twelve
59.
... very hard,
either.
12&12 p.26,
Step Two
60.
... very hard
knocks to learn this truth: ...
BB p.98,
Working With Others
Some of us have taken very hard knocks to learn this truth: Job or no job
-- wife or no wife -- we simply do not stop drinking so long as we place dependence upon other people ahead of dependence on God.
61.
... very hard
lesson that overdependence upon people ...
12&12 p.115,
Step Twelve
We had refused to learn
the very hard lesson that overdependence upon people is unsuccessful
because all people are fallible, and even the best of them will sometimes let us down, especially when our
demands for attention
become unreasonable.
62.
... very healthy.
BB p.178,
Doctor Bob's Nightmare
They spoke with great freedom from embarrassment, which I could never do, and they seemed
very much at ease on all occasions and appeared very healthy.
63.
... very healthy
slice of the profits.
12&12 p.136,
Tradition Two
64.
... very high
opinion of humility as a ...
12&12 p.74,
Step Seven
We may still have no very high opinion of humility as a
desirable personal virtue, but we do recognize it as a necessary aid to our survival.
65.
... very high
spiritual development almost always insist ...
12&12 p.60,
Step Five
It is worth noting that people of very high spiritual development almost always insist on checking with friends or
spiritual advisers
the guidance they feel
they have received from God.
66.
... very human
aspirations, we believe that each ...
12&12 p.187,
Tradition Twelve
As we lay aside these very human aspirations, we believe
that each of us takes part in the weaving of a protective mantle which
covers our whole Society and under which we
may grow and work in unity.
67.
... very ill.
BB p.89,
Working With Others
68.
... very ill.
BB p.108,
To Wives
69.
... very ill
from drinking.
BB p.20,
There Is A Solution
70.
... very image.
BB p.157,
A Vision For You
71.
... very important
question.
12&12 p.163,
Tradition Seven
72.
... "Very interesting.
BB p.138,
To Employers
73.
... very jittery
or befogged.
BB xxvi(xxiv),
The Doctor's Opinion
Though we work out our solution on the spiritual as well as an altruistic plane, we favor hospitalization
for the alcoholic who is very jittery or befogged.
74.
... very large
group of people who have ...
12&12 p.27,
Step Two
75.
... very large
order.
12&12 p.77,
Step Eight
76.
... very least,
we shall have to come ...
12&12 p.69,
Step Six
At the very least, we shall have to come to grips with some of our worst character defects and take action toward their removal as quickly as we can.
77.
... very life
of our Fellowship requires the ...
12&12 p.150,
Tradition Five
78.
... very likely
to entertain is one of ...
BB p.118,
To Wives
Another feeling we are
very likely to entertain is one of resentment that love and loyalty could not cure our husbands of alcoholism.
79.
... very little
hope of his recovery.
BB xxix(xxvii),
The Doctor's Opinion
This is repeated over and
over, and unless this person can experience an
entire psychic change there is very little hope of his recovery.
80.
... very lives,
as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon ...
BB p.20,
There Is A Solution
Our very lives, as ex-problem drinkers, depend upon our constant thought of others and how we
may help meet their needs.
81.
... very lonely
and again turned to alcohol.
BB p.1,
Bill's Story
82.
... very means
I had been trying to ...
BB p.180,
Doctor Bob's Nightmare
But this was a man who had experienced many years of frightful drinking, who had had most all the drunkard's experiences
known to man, but who had been
cured by the very means I had been trying to employ, that is to say the spiritual approach.
83.
... very mild
ones at that.
12&12 p.173,
Tradition Nine
But long ago, trustees and staff members alike found they could do no more than make suggestions, and very mild ones at that.
84.
... very much
at ease on all occasions ...
BB p.178,
Doctor Bob's Nightmare
They spoke with great freedom from embarrassment, which I could never do, and they seemed
very much at ease on all occasions and appeared very healthy.
85.
... very much,
but I thought it could ...
BB p.178,
Doctor Bob's Nightmare
I learned that it was something of a spiritual nature, which
did not appeal to me very much, but I thought it could
do no harm.
86.
... very much
the actor.
BB p.73,
Into Action
87.
... very nature,
controversial.
BB p.19,
There Is A Solution
88.
... very nature
of the situation we shall ...
12&12 p.83,
Step Nine
There will be other cases where action ought to be deferred, and still others in which by the
very nature of the situation we shall never be able to make direct personal contact at all.
89.
... very nervous
in the morning after these ...
BB p.32,
More About Alcoholism
90.
... very night,
years ago, it disappeared.
BB p.56,
We Agnostics
91.
... very obstinate
and potentially fatal obsession.
12&12 p.64,
Step Six
It is plain for everybody to see that each sober A.A. member has been granted a release from this
very obstinate and potentially fatal obsession.
92.
... very often
lie in preparing the way ...
BB p.569(571),
Appendix III, The Medical View on A.A.
Dr. Harry M. Tiebout, psychiatrist:
"As a psychiatrist, I have thought a great deal about the relationship of my specialty to A.A. and I have
come to the conclusion
that our particular function can very often lie in preparing the way for the patient to accept any sort of treatment or outside help.
93.
... very pleasant
surprise.
12&12 p.61,
Step Five
94.
... very practical
approach to his problems, the ...
BB p.160,
A Vision For You
The very practical approach to his problems,
the absence of intolerance of any kind, the informality, the
genuine democracy, the
uncanny understanding which these people had were irresistible.
95.
... very precepts
he knows so well.
BB p.93,
Working With Others
Perhaps your story will help him see where he has failed to practice the very precepts he knows so well.
96.
... very problems
on every side and in ...
BB xix,
Foreword to Second Edition
97.
... very process
by which the depressive has ...
12&12 p.45,
Step Four
This is not a moral inventory at all; it is the very process by which the depressive has so often
been led to the bottle and extinction.
98.
... very real.
12&12 p.78,
Step Eight
99.
... very real
sense he has been transformed, ...
12&12 p.107,
Step Twelve
In a very real sense he has been transformed, because he
has laid hold of a source of strength which,
in one way or another, he had hitherto
denied himself.
100.
... very remorseful
at times, especially if he ...
BB p.81,
Into Action
A man so involved often feels very remorseful at times, especially if he is
married to a loyal and courageous girl who has literally gone through hell for him.
101.
... very rich.
BB p.2,
Bill's Story
102.
... very room
recently vacated by the lawyer.
BB p.159,
A Vision For You
He consented, however, to go to the hospital, where he occupied the very room recently vacated by the lawyer.
103.
... very same
defects, then where do we ...
12&12 p.66,
Step Six
104.
... very same
person who seemed doomed, who ...
BB xxix(xxvii),
The Doctor's Opinion
On the other hand -- and strange as this may seem to those who do not understand -- once a psychic change has occurred, the very same person who seemed doomed, who had so many problems he despaired of ever solving them, suddenly finds himself easily able to control his desire for alcohol, the only effort necessary being that required to follow a few simple rules.
105.
... very seldom
did I receive patients.
BB p.176,
Doctor Bob's Nightmare
During the subsequent
fifteen years I had sense enough never to go to the hospital if I had been drinking, and very seldom did I receive patients.
106.
... very severe
growing pains.
12&12 p.17,
Foreword
107.
... very sharply
limited in its authority.
12&12 p.134,
Tradition Two
In either case, the group now has a so-called rotating committee, very sharply limited in its authority.
108.
... very sick
person.
BB xiii,
Foreword to First Edition
109.
... very sick
person and should be treated ...
BB p.100,
Working With Others
110.
... very sick,
unreasonable person.
BB p.108,
To Wives
111.
... very simply
that every A.A. group can ...
12&12 p.146,
Tradition Four
But in relation to us, it means very simply that every A.A. group can manage its affairs exactly as it pleases, except when A.A. as a whole is threatened.
112.
... very sincere
when I made them.
BB p.177,
Doctor Bob's Nightmare
I used to promise my wife, my friends, and my children that I would drink
no more -- promises which seldom kept me sober even through the day, though I was very sincere when I made them.
113.
... very slowly,
savoring every word and trying ...
12&12 p.99,
Step Eleven
As beginners in meditation, we might now reread this prayer several times very slowly, savoring every word and trying to take in the deep meaning of each phrase and idea.
114.
Very soon,
though, his assumed authority to ...
12&12 p.133,
Tradition Two
Very soon, though, his assumed authority to run everything begins to be
shared with the first alcoholics he has helped.
115.
... very special
meaning.
12&12 p.117,
Step Twelve
116.
... very spirit
of Step Nine.
12&12 p.87,
Step Nine
For the readiness to take
the full consequences
of our past acts, and to take responsibility for
the well-being of others at the same time, is the very spirit of Step Nine.
117.
... very start.
BB p.58,
How It Works
With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough
from the very start.
118.
... very strange
sensation.
BB xxxi(xxix),
The Doctor's Opinion
119.
... very suspicious
of everybody.
12&12 p.152,
Tradition Five
120.
... very thing
-- an oasis!
BB p.9,
Bill's Story
121.
... very thing
that all her years of ...
12&12 p.118,
Step Twelve
After the husband joins A.A., the wife may become discontented, even highly resentful that Alcoholics Anonymous
has done the very thing that all her years of devotion had failed to do.
122.
... very thing
that we had contemptuously condemned ...
12&12 p.30,
Step Two
Self-righteousness,
the very thing that we had contemptuously condemned in others, was
our own besetting evil.
123.
... very thing
which makes life seem so ...
BB p.124,
The Family Afterward
Showing others who suffer how we were given help is the very thing which makes life seem so worth while to us now.
124.
... very things,
when such action is warranted.
BB p.98,
Working With Others
Yet we do go to great extremes to provide each other with these very things, when such action is warranted.
125.
... very troublesome,
we throw ourselves the harder ...
BB p.70,
How It Works
126.
Very truly
yours, William D. Silkworth, M.D.
BB xxvi(xxiv),
The Doctor's Opinion
127.
... very unnatural
situations may develop which work ...
12&12 p.117,
Step Twelve
When alcoholism strikes, very unnatural situations
may develop which work against marriage partnership and compatible union.
128.
... very well.
BB p.61,
How It Works
129.
... very well.
BB p.126,
The Family Afterward
130.
... very well
play God to our fellows ...
12&12 p.116,
Step Twelve
If we really depended upon God, we couldn't very well play God to our fellows nor would we feel the urge wholly to rely on human protection and care.
131.
... very worst
in those who didn't think ...
12&12 p.78,
Step Eight
We've repeatedly strained the patience of
our best friends to a snapping point, and have brought out the very worst in those who didn't think much of us to begin with.
132.
... very worst,
we must be sure to ...
12&12 p.84,
Step Nine
While we may be quite willing to reveal the very worst, we must be sure to remember that we cannot buy
our own peace of mind at the expense of others.
Passages from the Big Book Alcoholics Anonymous
and the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions
are reprinted with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.
The A.A. Preamble, copyright ©
The A.A. Grapevine, Inc., is reprinted with permission.
Permission to reprint does not in any way imply affiliation with or
endorsement by either Alcoholics Anonymous or The A.A. Grapevine, Inc.
Copyright © 2005-2012, Recovery Press LLC; All Rights Reserved.