A.a. Faith Quotes

We don't need to strive towards balance, we rather need to work on the obstacles that are preventing the natural flow of balance.

The only way he could have her was to shatter this stubborn faith of hers. In doing so, would he shatter her? "What has this god of yours ever really done for you?" She stood very still for a long moment, her back to him. "Everything.

For myself I have now no faith in miraculous conception. I have given it every chance. I have spent many mornings at Lord’s hoping that inspiration would come, many days on golf courses; I have even gone to sleep in the afternoon, in case inspiration cared to take me by surprise. In vain. The only way I can get an "idea" is to sit at my desk and dredge for it. This is the real labour of authorship with which no other labour in the world is comparable.

The first lift shaft was built four years before the first lift. In 1852 Peter Cooper was constructing the Cooper Union building in New York with an elevator shaft, in the sure and certain knowledge that if he built it, the lift would come. That isn’t an act of impatience, it’s an act of faith, and it is, archetypally, the act of an American.

It is difficult to have faith when our hearts are consumed by fear, but it is when we are afraid that we need to hang onto our faith the most.

The ultimate positive thought, of course, is “God,” the word which affirms our faith that the universe is friendly to our being.

I can remember the days when people talked about the conflict between science and religion. But no more. The newest of all sciences—psychiatry—is teaching what Jesus taught. Why? Because psychiatrists realize that prayer and a strong religious faith will banish the worries, the anxieties, the strains and fears that cause more than half of all our ills. They know, as one of their leaders, Dr. A. A. Brill, said: “Anyone who is truly religious does not develop a neurosis.” If religion isn’t true, then life is meaningless. It is a tragic farce.

The Limit of this obligation to obedience [to the civil government] will be found only when we are commanded to do something contrary to the to the superior authority of God (Acts iv. 19; v. 29); or when the civil government has become so radically and incurably corrupt that it has ceased to accomplish the ends for which it was established. When that point has unquestionably been reached, when all means of redress have been exhausted without avail, when there appears no prospect of securing reform in the government itself, and some good prospect of securing it by revolution, then it is the privilege and duty of a Christian people to change their government - peacefully if they may, forcibly if they must.

America, built on religious contrarianism, has incubated a far wider and more exotic range of votive beliefs than anywhere else on earth, with the possible exception of India. And without wanting to disparage anyone’s fondest faith, America’s big sky and bigger spiritual yearning has led to some truly eye-bulging and belief-suspending premises for salvation. It’s difficult to imagine that the golden plates engraved with the book of Mormon could have been found anywhere but in the New World, or that L. Ron Hubbard would have found a congregation for Scientology. The fervor of religious experience has been a constant throttle and brake on American life, from the witch hunts of seventeenth-century Massachusetts to the New Age pantheistic hedonism and self-help of twenty-first-century Arizona.

The questions raised by Lucretia [Mott]'s life are "How are you called into action?" and "Are you faithful to that call?" Your actions might be public or so quiet that they are never notices, which Emily [Dickinson] would have applauded. Your act of courage might be taking the time and developing the spirit to reconcile a relationship. Or it might be simply getting out of bed if you suffer from depression or going to that first A.A. meeting. You might be quietly writing letters to political prisoners through Amnesty International or sending anonymous donation to help the orphans in South Africa. You might take time each week to go to the hospital nursery to rock the neglected babies with AIDS. You may have a strong desire to cultivate your own garden and participate in growing the food you eat, allowing time for your inner spirit to grow and be nurtured as well. You may be protecting and valuing time as a parent. It is not important whether our actions are considered large or small; it is important that they stem from the center of our being. When we learn to live from our own authenticity, we activate our still inner voice. Although Lucretia [Mott] was a lead singer on the world stage, she would have been perfectly happy singing backup for someone else -- as long as the music was right and all the people were included in the dancing.

JUNE 30 A.A. Thought for the Day Alcoholics are unable or unwilling, during their addiction to alcohol, to live in the present. The result is that they live in a constant state of remorse and fear because of their unholy past and its morbid attraction, or the uncertain future and its vague forebodings. So the only real hope for the alcoholic is to face the present. Now is the time. Now is ours. The past is beyond recall. The future is as uncertain as life itself. Only the now belongs to us. Am I living in the now? Meditation for the Day I must forget the past as much as possible. The past is over and gone forever. Nothing can be done about the past, except to make what restitution I can. I must not carry the burden of my past failures. I must go on in faith. The clouds will clear and the way will lighten. The path will become less stony with every forward step I take. God has no reproach for anything that He has healed. I can be made whole and free, even though I have wrecked my life in the past. Remember the saying: “Neither do I condemn thee; go and sin no more.” Prayer for the Day I pray that I may not carry the burden of the past. I pray that I may cast it off and press on in faith.

Do not identify with symbols, slogans, or statues because they can be destroyed and manipulated. Place your faith in freedom and decency because those ideals are eternal and cannot ever be taken from you.

Political fandom is much like entertainment fandom, many people invest money, emotions, and faith in a person they never met and foolishly expect that figure will always make them happy.

By finally admitting that I was one among many, and by following the example of my sponsor and other A.A. members in practicing faith I did not have, my life has been given meaning, direction and purpose.

Faith, to be sure, is necessary, but faith alone can avail nothing. We can have faith, yet keep God out of our lives. TWELVE STEPS AND TWELVE TRADITIONS, p. 34

When human nature breaks down to its most essential, there remain but two kinds of people; the ones who will reinstate your faith in humanity, and the ones who will make you want to extirpate it.

I have seen rivers float red with innocent blood, Swords drowned in misery, entrails and putrid bowels, Glorious commands shouted by leaders, Whose faith was hewn in stone, An auspicious star, a contract with the Shârz. Yet I have understood, in my wisdom, that true authority Lies in the wisdom that needs no words. Reason needs no captain or general, but an attentive observer...

When magic fails, we are left with two options, The tools of destruction we have armed our forces with, Or dubious faith in a madman’s impetuous decisions.

Terrible things could have happened to any one of us. We never will know what might have happened to us when we were drunk. We usually thought: “That couldn’t happen to me.” But any one of us could have killed somebody or have been killed ourselves, if we were drunk enough. But fear of these things never kept us from drinking. Do I believe that in A.A. we have something more effective than fear? Meditation for the Day I must keep calm and unmoved in the vicissitudes of life. I must go back into the silence of communion with God to recover this calm when it is lost even for one moment. I will accomplish more by this calmness than by all the activities of a long day. At all cost I will keep calm. I can solve nothing when I am agitated. I should keep away from things that are upsetting emotionally. I should run on an even keel and not get tipped over by emotional upsets. I should seek for things that are calm and good and true and stick to those things. Prayer for the Day I pray that I may not argue nor contend, but merely state calmly what I believe to be true. I pray that I may keep myself in that state of calmness that comes from faith in God’s purpose for the world. APRIL

The lack of meaning is the absence of value, significance and aim.

Openness is like a sport, we need to practice it every day to get the best ability to be open to others’ ideas after some time.

Our basic troubles are the same as everyone else’s, but when an honest effort is made “to practice these principles in all our affairs,” well-grounded A.A.’s seem to have the ability, by God’s grace, to take these troubles in stride and turn them into demonstrations of faith.

have the ability, by God's grace, to take these troubles in stride and turn them into demonstrations of faith.

The only thing we have inside us is hope, hope that pulls us from our miseries, hopes that keep us going and enable us to carry on; a hope that one day someone will hear our voices and help spread our message to the world.

The only way he could have her was to shatter this stubborn faith of hers. In doing so, would he shatter her? 'What has this god of yours ever really done for you?' She stood very still for a long moment, her back to him. 'Everything.

I learned that a Higher Power—a faith that works under all conditions—is possible.

When we encountered A.A., the fallacy of our defiance was revealed. At no time had we asked what God’s will was for us; instead we had been telling Him what it ought to be. No man, we saw, could believe in God and defy Him, too. Belief meant reliance, not defiance. In A.A. we saw the fruits of this belief: men and women spared from alcohol’s final catastrophe. We saw them meet and transcend their other pains and trials. We saw them calmly accept impossible situations, seeking neither to run nor to recriminate. This was not only faith; it was faith that worked under all conditions. We soon concluded that whatever price in humility we must pay, we would pay.