Here is a direct link to the chapter “To wives” from The Big Book of AA.

For a better understanding of your alcoholic spouse, PLEASE read this text:

Chapter 8: “To wives”

If you find this chapter helpful, do not hesitate to read the rest of the book.

“For some reason, [...]

“Even then, as we hew away, peace and joy will still elude us. That’s the place so many of us AA oldsters have come to. And it’s a hell of a spot, literally. How shall our unconscious—from which so many of our fears, compulsions and phony aspirations still stream —be brought into line with what [...]

“Characteristic of the so-called typical alcoholic is a narcissistic egocentric core, dominated by feelings of omnipotence, intent on maintaining at all costs its inner integrity. . . . Inwardly the alcoholic brooks no control from man or God. He, the alcoholic, is and must be the master of his destiny. He will fight to the [...]

Where other people were concerned, we had to drop the word “blame” from our speech and thought.

When I become willing to accept my own power-lessness, I begin to realize that blaming myself for all the trouble in my life can be an ego trip back into hopelessness. Asking for help and listening deeply [...]

There is action and more action. “Faith without works is dead.”… To be helpful is our only aim.

I understand that service is a vital part of recovery but I often wonder, “What can I do?” Simply start with what I have today! I look around to see where there is a need. Are [...]

We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition.

The most common alcoholic fantasy seems to be: “If I just don’t drink, everything will be all right.” Once the fog cleared for me, I saw—for the first time—the mess my life [...]

Our very first problem is to accept our present circumstances as they are, ourselves as we are, and the people about us as they are. This is to adopt a realistic humility without which no genuine advance can even begin. Again and again, we shall need to return to that unflattering point of departure. This [...]

Only Step One, where we made the 100 percent admission we were powerless over alcohol, can be practiced with absolute perfection.

Long before I was able to obtain sobriety in AA, I knew without a doubt that alcohol was killing me, yet even with this knowledge, I was unable to stop drinking. So, when faced [...]