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Years ago I used to commiserate with all people who suffered. Now I commiserate only with those who suffer in ignorance, who do not understand the purpose and ultimate utility of pain

Bill W.

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Bill W.
Age: 75 †
Born: 1895
Born: November 26
Died: 1971
Died: January 24
Stockbroker
William Griffith Wilson
Bill Wilson
Suffering
Purpose
Pain
Commiserate
Understand
Utility
Used
Suffered
Years
Suffer
People
Ultimate
Ignorance

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Each day my friend's simple talk in our kitchen multiplies itself in a widening circle of peace on earth and good will to men.
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More than most people, the alcoholic leads a double life. He is very much the actor
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We have no desire to convince anyone that there is only one way by which faith can be acquired.
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AA is no success story in the ordinary sense of the word. It is a story of suffering transmuted, under grace, into spiritual progress.
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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.
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Pain is the touchstone of all growth
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I was not an atheist. Few people really are, for that means blind faith in the strange proposition that this universe originated in a cipher and aimlessly rushes nowhere.
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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.
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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.
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God is either everything, or He is nothing.
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We know that permanent sobriety can be attained only by a most revolutionary change in the life and outlook of the individual.
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Guilt is really the reverse side of the coin of pride. Guilt aims at self-destruction, and pride aims at the destruction of others.
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Only the self-deceived will claim perfect freedom from fear.
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Perhaps one of the greatest rewards of meditation and prayer is the sense of belonging that comes to us.
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No personal calamity is so crushing that something true and great can't be made of it
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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.
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The temporary good is enemy to the permanent best.
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In the wake of my spiritual experience there came a vision of a society of alcoholics.
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Indecision with the passing of time becomes decision.
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In God's economy, nothing is wasted. Through failure, we learn a lesson in humility which is probably needed, painful though it is.
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