From the books ...
Alcoholics Anonymous (Big Book) and
Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions (12 & 12)
YEARS occurs
85 times
(
Definition from Merriam-Webster Online)
Click

to display the full page from the Big Book
1.
... years.
12&12 p.113,
Step Twelve
And it can go on for years.
2.
... years.
12&12 p.161,
Tradition Seven
The
hassle over that
chunk
of
money played havoc for
years.
3.
... years.
12&12 p.168,
Tradition Eight
These
notions persisted for
years.
4.
... years.
BB p.6,
Bill's Story
5.
... years.
BB p.12,
Bill's Story
6.
... years.
BB p.33,
More About Alcoholism
Though a
robust man at
retirement, he went to
pieces quickly and was
dead within four years.
7.
... years.
BB p.33,
More About Alcoholism
Several of our
crowd,
men of
thirty or
less, had been
drinking only a few
years,
but they
found themselves as
helpless as those who had been
drinking twenty years.
8.
... years.
BB p.33,
More About Alcoholism
Potential female alcoholics often
turn into
the
real thing and are
gone beyond recall in a few
years.
9.
... years.
BB p.36,
More About Alcoholism
I also had the
notion that I might find a
customer for a
car at this
place, which was
familiar for I had been
going to it for
years.
10.
... years.
BB p.80,
Into Action
He
attended church for
the
first time in many
years.
11.
... years.
BB p.118,
To Wives
His
ways of
thinking and
doing are the
habits of
years.
12.
... years.
BB p.118,
To Wives
We do not like the
thought that the
contents of a book or the
work of another
alcoholic
has
accomplished in a few
weeks that for which we
struggled for
years.
13.
... years."
BB p.570(572),
Appendix III, The Medical View on A.A.
The
days add up into
weeks, the
weeks into
months and
years."
14.
... years.
BB xxv(xxiii),
The Doctor's Opinion
I have
specialized in the
treatment of
alcoholism for many
years.
15.
... years.
BB xxxii(xxx),
The Doctor's Opinion
He has not had a
drink for a
great many
years.
16.
... years after this chapter was written.
BB p.121,
To Wives (Note)
17.
... years ago.
BB p.80,
Into Action
This all
happened years
ago.
18.
Years ago, in 1935, one of our ...
BB p.153,
A Vision For You
Years ago, in
1935, one of our
number made a
journey to
a
certain western city.
19.
... years ago, it disappeared.
BB p.56,
We Agnostics
That very
night,
years ago,
it
disappeared.
20.
... years ago one of our number was ...
BB p.162,
A Vision For You
Six years ago one of our
number was a
patient there.
21.
... years ago one of the leading contributors ...
BB xxvii(xxv),
The Doctor's Opinion
Many
years ago one of the
leading contributors
to this book
came under our
care in this
hospital and
while here he
acquired some
ideas which he
put into
practical application
at once.
22.
... years ago, that the action of alcohol ...
BB xxviii(xxvi),
The Doctor's Opinion
23.
Years ago this principle of "no endorsement" ...
12&12 p.157,
Tradition Six
Years ago this
principle
of "no
endorsement" was
put to a
vital test.
24.
... years ago, when my head doctor, Silkworth, ...
12&12 p.136,
Tradition Two
25.
... years alcoholics flocked to A.A. by tens ...
12&12 p.17,
Foreword
26.
... years all normal activities -- clubs, civic duties, ...
BB p.131,
The Family Afterward
27.
... years and retired at the age of ...
BB p.32,
More About Alcoholism
28.
... years, and this in the face of ...
BB p.138,
To Employers
I
pointed out that I had had
nothing to
drink whatever for
three years, and this in the
face of
difficulties
that would have made
nine out of
ten men drink their
heads off.
29.
... years and, when it falls short, the ...
BB p.123,
The Family Afterward
Today's
life is
measured against that of other
years and, when it
falls short, the
family may be
unhappy.
30.
... years before his time.
BB p.21,
There Is A Solution
It may
cause him to
die a few
years before his
time.
31.
... years before the onset of extreme difficulties, ...
12&12 p.23,
Step One
After a few such
experiences, often
years before the
onset of
extreme difficulties,
he would
return to us
convinced.
32.
... years before we realized it we were ...
12&12 p.23,
Step One
By
going back in our
own drinking histories, we
could
show that
years before
we
realized it we were out of
control, that our
drinking
even then was no
mere habit,
that it was
indeed the
beginning of a
fatal progression.
33.
... years beyond the point where we could ...
BB p.34,
More About Alcoholism
As we
look back, we
feel we
had
gone on
drinking many
years beyond the
point where we could
quit on our
will
power.
34.
... years break out of their confinement, and ...
12&12 p.62,
Step Five
The
dammed-up
emotions
of
years break out of their
confinement, and
miraculously vanish as
soon as they are
exposed.
35.
... years, but they found themselves as helpless ...
BB p.33,
More About Alcoholism
Several of our
crowd,
men of
thirty or
less, had been
drinking only a few
years,
but they
found themselves as
helpless as those who had been
drinking twenty years.
36.
... years, every conceivable deviation from our Twelve ...
12&12 p.146,
Tradition Four
Over the
years, every
conceivable deviation
from our
Twelve Steps and
Traditions has been
tried.
37.
... years' experience as Medical Director of one ...
BB xxvii(xxv),
The Doctor's Opinion
38.
... years fortune threw money and applause my ...
BB p.3,
Bill's Story
For the
next few
years fortune threw money and
applause my way.
39.
... years found he was just where he ...
BB p.33,
More About Alcoholism
But here is a
man who at
fifty-
five years found he was just where he
had
left off at
thirty.
40.
... years have elapsed between our first printing ...
BB xv,
Foreword to Second Edition
Sixteen years have
elapsed between our
first printing of this book and the
presentation in
1955 of
our
second edition.
41.
... years he became so violent when intoxicated ...
BB p.35,
More About Alcoholism
In a few
years he
became so
violent when
intoxicated that he had to be
committed.
42.
... years he had floundered from one sanitarium ...
BB p.26,
There Is A Solution
For
years he had
floundered from one
sanitarium to another.
43.
... years he has so shockingly treated.
BB p.82,
Into Action
But he is
yet a
long way from
making good to the
wife or
parents whom for
years he has so
shockingly treated.
44.
... years, he reacts much like other men.
BB p.22,
There Is A Solution
We
know that while the
alcoholic keeps away from
drink, as he may do for
months or
years, he
reacts much like other
men.
45.
... years his drinking has placed him on ...
BB p.129,
The Family Afterward
Dad may
feel that for
years his
drinking has
placed him on the
wrong side of every
argument, but
that now he has
become a
superior person with
God on his
side.
46.
... years in pulling down the structures of ...
BB p.123,
The Family Afterward
But the
head of the
house has
spent years in
pulling down the
structures of
business,
romance,
friendship,
health -- these things are now
ruined or
damaged.
47.
... years in spite of friendly warnings.
BB p.37,
More About Alcoholism
He
enjoys himself for a few
years in
spite of
friendly warnings.
48.
... years in the Big Book (A.A. members' ...
BB xii,
Preface
All
changes made over the
years in the
Big Book (
A.A. members'
fond nickname for this
volume) have had the same
purpose: to
represent the
current membership of
Alcoholics Anonymous more
accurately, and thereby to
reach more
alcoholics.
49.
... years later the conquest of the air ...
BB p.52,
We Agnostics
Only
thirty years later the
conquest of the
air was almost an
old story and
airplane travel was in
full swing.
50.
Years later, this tough Irish customer liked ...
12&12 p.154,
Tradition Five
Years later, this
tough Irish customer liked to say, "My
sponsor sold me one
idea, and that was
sobriety.
51.
... years, more than 300,000 copies went into ...
BB xi,
Preface
52.
... years now has been rated as a ...
12&12 p.99,
Step Eleven
Its author was a
man who for several
hundred
years now has been
rated as a
saint.
53.
... years of age -- among them, many in ...
BB xxii,
Foreword to Third Edition
Seven percent of the
A.A.'s
surveyed are
less than
30 years of
age -- among them, many in
their
teens.
54.
... years of alcoholism.
12&12 p.117,
Step Twelve
55.
... years of devotion had failed to do.
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.
56.
... years of drunkenness would make a skeptic ...
BB p.83,
Into Action
We
must remember that
ten or
twenty years of
drunkenness would
make a
skeptic out of anyone.
57.
... years of experience, that we have found ...
BB xxviii(xxvi),
The Doctor's Opinion
We
feel, after many
years of
experience, that we have
found nothing which has
contributed more to the
rehabilitation of these
men than the
altruistic movement now
growing up
among them.
58.
... years of hard drinking have been repaired ...
BB p.156,
A Vision For You
As we shall see, he now
means a
great deal to his
community, and the
major liabilities of
thirty
years of
hard drinking have been
repaired in
four.
59.
... years of harrowing experience.
12&12 p.139,
Tradition Three
60.
... years of literal hell the rest of ...
12&12 p.23,
Step One
They were
spared that
last
ten or
fifteen years of
literal hell the
rest of us had
gone through.
61.
... "Years of living with an alcoholic is ...
BB p.122,
The Family Afterward
A
doctor said to us, "
Years
of
living with an
alcoholic is almost
sure to
make any
wife or
child neurotic.
62.
... years of self-discipline.
BB p.567(569),
Appendix II, Spiritual Experience
What often
takes place in a few
months could
seldom have been
accomplished by
years
of
self-
discipline.
63.
... years of trial and error in selecting ...
12&12 p.16,
Foreword
64.
... years of waste threw us into panic.
12&12 p.121,
Step Twelve
The
spectacle of
years of
waste threw us into
panic.
65.
... years of your existence lie ahead.
BB p.152,
A Vision For You
66.
... years, often pay dearly for skimping this ...
12&12 p.56,
Step Five
Even
A.A. oldtimers,
sober for
years, often
pay dearly for
skimping this
Step.
67.
... years old, an event occurred demonstrating this ...
12&12 p.135,
Tradition Two
68.
... years, or hardly draw a sober breath.
BB p.4,
Bill's Story
Mercifully, no one could
guess that I was to have no
real
employment for
five
years, or
hardly draw a
sober breath.
69.
... years past.
BB p.69,
How It Works
We
reviewed our
own conduct over the
years past.
70.
... years she has made a far better ...
12&12 p.118,
Step Twelve
She
naturally feels that
for
years she has made a far
better job of
living than he has.
71.
... years since, however, most of us have ...
12&12 p.123,
Step Twelve
In the
years since, however, most of us have
come to
agree with those
doctors.
72.
... years since I could remember his coming ...
BB p.9,
Bill's Story
It was
years since I could
remember his
coming to New
York in that
condition.
73.
... years since then, we have changed our ...
12&12 p.172,
Tradition Nine
In
years since then, we have
changed our
minds about that.
74.
... years' standing melt away in an hour.
BB p.78,
Into Action
Sometimes the
man we are calling upon
admits his
own fault, so
feuds of
years'
standing melt away in an
hour.
75.
... years that mother became head of the ...
BB p.130,
The Family Afterward
76.
... years thereafter he was dogged by trouble ...
BB p.56,
We Agnostics
For
years thereafter he was
dogged by
trouble and
frustration.
77.
... years they had completely lost their effectiveness ...
12&12 p.178,
Tradition Ten
78.
... years this changed.
12&12 p.23,
Step One
79.
... years this conduct continues, accompanied by his ...
BB p.38,
More About Alcoholism
On through the
years this
conduct continues,
accompanied by his
continual promises to be
careful or to
keep off the
streets altogether.
80.
... years to complete.
BB p.123,
The Family Afterward
81.
... years we have been demanding more than ...
12&12 p.71,
Step Seven
For
thousands of
years we
have been
demanding more than our
share of
security,
prestige, and
romance.
82.
... years we have been working with alcoholics ...
BB p.114,
To Wives
83.
... years we were still behaving childishly, trying ...
12&12 p.115,
Step Twelve
We had
failed to see that though
adult in
years we were still
behaving childishly,
trying to
turn everybody --
friends,
wives,
husbands, even the
world itself -- into
protective parents.
84.
... years were swept away.
BB p.56,
We Agnostics
The
barriers he had
built
through the
years were
swept
away.
85.
... years with an alcoholic, a wife gets ...
BB p.81,
Into Action
After a few
years with an
alcoholic, a
wife gets
worn out,
resentful and
uncommunicative.
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.
Top
Copyright © 2005-2008, Recovery Press LLC; All Rights Reserved.