Does the Big Book say "you have to give it away to keep it"?
In short:
- Not in those words. The saying isn't in the Big Book's 1939 program text, pages 1 to 164. It appears in one fourth-edition personal story: "I was told that to keep it we have to give it away" (p. 345). Bill W. came close in a 1955 essay (after 1950): "We couldn't keep what we had unless we gave it away" (P-17).
- The idea is in the program text, in its own words. Bill writes that an alcoholic who didn't work and sacrifice for others "would surely drink again" (p. 15). The first Akron members "felt they had to give to others what they had found, or be sunk" (p. 158). And Chapter 7 calls helping others "the foundation stone of your recovery" (p. 97).
- The book doesn't leave it as a bargain to keep yourself sober. Of those first members it says that motive "became secondary" (p. 159), and Chapter 7 asks the helper to think of "what you can bring" (p. 102).
What the search found
All our sources were searched for "give it away," "to keep it," "giving away," "keep what you have," "keep what we had" and "freely given."
- The saying: one personal story, "Because I'm an Alcoholic" (Part II): "Commitment and service were part of recovery. I was told that to keep it we have to give it away" (p. 345).
- An older version: "The Professor and the Paradox," a story printed in the second edition (1955) and dropped in 1976, now in Experience, Strength and Hope (2003). Its writer lists four A.A. paradoxes, the second being "We give away to keep" (Experience, Strength and Hope, 2003, story from the 1955 edition).
- The nearest wording outside the stories, from Bill W. in 1955: "Why Alcoholics Anonymous Is Anonymous" (printed in P-17, and as an appendix to A.A. Comes of Age, 1957) looks back on the early days of carrying the message: "We couldn't keep what we had unless we gave it away" (P-17). The point there is sacrifice. Members gave time, energy and their own money, asked nothing of the prospect, and found that their Twelfth Step work "went flat" (P-17) when they demanded anything. It comes from after 1950, and the same essay quotes Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, which is not a source here; the sentence is cited as Bill's own 1955 words only.
- "Give it away" in Pass It On (1984) is about the unsold Big Book in 1939: they weren't sure they "could even give it away" (Pass It On, 1984). It isn't the saying.
What the program text says
Bill's story (1939). In the hospital Bill thought of the many hopeless alcoholics "who might be glad to have what had been so freely given me" (p. 14). His friend, the schoolmate who had brought him the message, insisted it was "imperative to work with others as he had worked with me" (p. 14). "Faith without works was dead, he said" (p. 14). Bill's own comment follows: an alcoholic who failed to enlarge his spiritual life "through work and self-sacrifice for others" (p. 15) could not survive the hard times ahead. "If he did not work, he would surely drink again, and if he drank, he would surely die" (p. 15). When all else failed, "work with another alcoholic would save the day" (p. 15).
Chapter 2. The writers ask, "How then shall we present that which has been so freely given us?" (p. 19), and their answer is the book.
Chapter 7. It opens: "nothing will so much insure immunity from drinking as intensive work with other alcoholics" (p. 89). The newcomer is told that "your attempt to pass this on to him plays a vital part in your own recovery" (p. 94). "Helping others is the foundation stone of your recovery" (p. 97).
Chapter 9. A father who has just found a spiritual life may try "to hug the new treasure to himself" (p. 129). He hasn't yet seen that it is a lode which will pay dividends only if he mines it all his life "and insists on giving away the entire product" (p. 129). The same passage tells the family to let him help other alcoholics as much as he likes in those first days, because "this will do more to insure his sobriety than anything else" (p. 129).
Chapter 11. The first three Akron members "felt they had to give to others what they had found, or be sunk" (p. 158). This is the closest the program text comes to the saying.
What the book adds to the saying
Taken alone, "give it away to keep it" can sound like a trade: help others so you stay sober. The program text says that motive is real and doesn't hide it (pp. 89, 94, 97). But it doesn't stop there: - Of the first Akron members: "Though they knew they must help other alcoholics if they would remain sober, that motive became secondary" (p. 159). "It was transcended by the happiness they found in giving themselves for others" (p. 159). - The helper tells the newcomer he is "under no obligation to you" (p. 94), and that the helper hopes only that he will try to help other alcoholics in turn (p. 94). - "Do not think of what you will get out of the occasion. Think of what you can bring to it" (p. 102). - "To be helpful is our only aim" (p. 89).
So the book agrees with the saying's core, that a sober alcoholic who stops giving to others is in danger. It also expects the motive of keeping your own sobriety to become secondary to the other person and to the happiness of giving.
See also: Is helping others selfish if it keeps me sober? and What does Step 12 really say?
Read it yourself
- Chapter 1, "Bill's Story" (pp. 14–16): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt1.pdf
- Chapter 7, "Working With Others" (pp. 89–103): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt7.pdf
- Chapter 11, "A Vision for You" (pp. 158–159): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt11.pdf
- Chapter 9, "The Family Afterward" (pp. 128–129): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt9.pdf
- Personal stories, Part II, with "Because I'm an Alcoholic": https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_personalstories_partII.pdf
- P-17, The Twelve Traditions, with "Why Alcoholics Anonymous Is Anonymous," free from A.A.: https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/assets/p-17_AATraditions.pdf
- Experience, Strength and Hope, A.A. Comes of Age and Pass It On are sold by A.A. World Services: https://onlineliterature.aa.org
Sources
| Source | Pages | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Alcoholics Anonymous, whole fourth-edition text (searched) | — | 1939 text; fourth edition 2001 |
| Chapters 1, 2, 7, 9, 11 | 14–15, 19, 89–102, 129, 158–159 | 1939 |
| "Because I'm an Alcoholic," Part II | 345 | personal story in the fourth edition (2001) |
| "The Professor and the Paradox," in Experience, Strength and Hope | — | story in the second edition (1955–1976); collection 2003 |
| Bill W., "Why Alcoholics Anonymous Is Anonymous," in P-17 (also A.A. Comes of Age, Appendix B) | — | 1955; after 1950 (P-17 articles © AA Grapevine; A.A. Comes of Age 1957) |
| Pass It On | — | 1984; after 1950 |
Big Book page numbers are from the fourth edition.
Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book, Experience, Strength and Hope, A.A. Comes of Age and Pass It On are © A.A. World Services, Inc.; P-17's articles are © AA Grapevine, 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.