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Is "don't quit before the miracle happens" in the Big Book?

In short:

  • Not in the 1939 program text (pp. 1–164). The only place in our sources where the saying appears is one member's story in today's fourth edition, which calls it "the A.A. saying" in the form "Don't give up until the miracle happens." (p. 445). That is a member's story, not the program's teaching.
  • The program text does speak of miracles: "The age of miracles is still with us. Our own recovery proves that!" (p. 153). But the miracle it means is recovery itself, which it says can happen to the reader "Should you wish them above all else, and be willing to make use of our experience" (p. 153).
  • The 1939 text doesn't tell anyone to wait or hold on for a miracle. It tells them what to do, and it says the change comes "sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly" (p. 84).

What the search found

All our sources were searched for "before the miracle," "quit before," "don't quit," "give up until," "don't give up," "until the miracle," "miracle happens," "miracle happen," "miracles happen," "the miracle" and "miracles," with page breaks joined.

  • "Before the miracle" and "don't quit before" are nowhere in our sources.
  • "My Bottle, My Resentments, and Me" (Part III, fourth edition): after almost twenty-five years sober, a magazine article about the writer led to his family finding him again after more than thirty years (pp. 444–445). He calls it "a modern-day miracle" (p. 445) and ends his story: "I believe that I am living proof of the A.A. saying 'Don't give up until the miracle happens.'" (p. 445). In his use the saying is about a long-hoped-for reconciliation that came decades into sobriety, not about the early days.
  • Other stories use "miracle" in their own ways, for example a sign at one writer's meetings that says "Expect a Miracle" (p. 380), and "the miracle of all miracles was that I didn't have to drink over any of it" (p. 336). No story in Experience, Strength and Hope (2003) has the saying.

What "miracle" means in the program text

The 1939 text uses the word mostly for the recovery of hopeless drinkers, and for the change in a man's relation to liquor (it also speaks of "the miracle of reconciliation" between a husband and wife, p. 124):

  • Bill, watching his sober friend across the kitchen table: "My ideas about miracles were drastically revised right then." (p. 11), "here sat a miracle directly across the kitchen table" (p. 11).
  • The atheist minister's son whose drink problem disappeared in one night: "What is this but a miracle of healing? Yet its elements are simple." (p. 57).
  • Every member's story agrees on one thing, the book says: a Power greater than himself "has in each case accomplished the miraculous, the humanly impossible" (p. 50).
  • After the Steps, the obsession is lifted: "It just comes! That is the miracle of it." (p. 85).
  • The early Akron newcomers "had seen miracles, and one was to come to them" (p. 161).
  • And, to the family: "We, who have recovered from serious drinking, are miracles of mental health." (p. 133), with the reminder that "though God has wrought miracles among us, we should never belittle a good doctor or psychiatrist" (p. 133).

The passage around "The age of miracles is still with us"

Chapter 11 is talking to the reader who wonders whether he can do without liquor (p. 152). It promises him a fellowship, and says of the hopeless drinkers around him: "It may seem incredible that these men are to become happy, respected, and useful once more." (p. 153). Its practical answer is that "since these things have happened among us, they can happen with you" (p. 153), if he wants them above all else and is willing to use their experience (p. 153). Then: "The age of miracles is still with us. Our own recovery proves that!" (p. 153). The next paragraph hopes that defeated drinkers "will seize upon it, to follow its suggestions" (p. 153).

So the passage ties the miracle to wanting it and acting on the book's suggestions. It says nothing about how long it takes, or about staying until it comes.

Does the program text say anything about not giving up?

Not in those words. What it does say:

  • Don't be discouraged by imperfection. Many exclaimed at the Steps, "What an order! I can't go through with it." (p. 60). The answer: "Do not be discouraged." (p. 60), "We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection." (p. 60).
  • The results come at different speeds. Of the Promises: "They are being fulfilled among us—sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly." (p. 84). And "They will always materialize if we work for them." (p. 84).
  • Not everyone's change is sudden. "To this man, the revelation was sudden. Some of us grow into it more slowly." (p. 57). Appendix II, added in 1955, says most experiences are of the "educational variety" that "develop slowly over a period of time" (p. 567).
  • Persist in the path of spiritual progress. In the passage about a newcomer whose family has not come back, which reminds him that his recovery depends on his relationship with God, not on people (pp. 99–100), Chapter 7 says to the member and the newcomer together: "Both you and the new man must walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress. If you persist, remarkable things will happen." (p. 100). This is the nearest the program text comes to "don't give up," and it is about walking in the path of spiritual progress, not waiting.
  • For the helper, different advice. About a prospect who doesn't respond, Chapter 7 says: "Do not be discouraged if your prospect does not respond at once. Search out another alcoholic and try again." (p. 96), and "We find it a waste of time to keep chasing a man who cannot or will not work with you." (p. 96).

A dated note from 1955

At the 1955 convention, Dr. Harry Tiebout, a psychiatrist and friend of A.A., warned that "A.A. can never be just a miracle" (A.A. Comes of Age, 1957): a single surrender could produce sobriety, he said, but continued effort was needed to keep it. That is one doctor's view, published in 1957; it isn't program text.

What this means

The saying appears once, in a fourth-edition story (p. 445). The 1939 text promises miracles plainly (pp. 11, 57, 85, 153), but it ties them to willingness and action, says they come "sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly" (p. 84), and asks the reader to "walk day by day in the path of spiritual progress" (p. 100). See: Where are "the Promises," and what do they promise?

Read it yourself

Sources

Source Pages Date
All our sources (searched): Big Book, pamphlets, history, stories, service — various
Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapters 1, 4–7, 9, 11 11, 50, 57, 60, 84–85, 96, 99–100, 124, 133, 152–153, 161 1939
Appendix II, "Spiritual Experience" 567 added 1955 (second edition, p. xi)
"My Bottle, My Resentments, and Me," Part III; "Crossing the River of Denial" and "Winner Takes All," Part II 444–445, 336, 380 fourth edition (2001)
A.A. Comes of Age, Dr. Harry Tiebout's 1955 talk — talk 1955, book 1957

Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book is © A.A. World Services, Inc.

These pages answer questions about A.A. from A.A.'s own published literature, read in full, with every quote checked word for word against the page it cites. Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. What we read, and when each source was written.