Does the Big Book say to "stick with the winners"?
In short:
- No. The saying isn't in the Big Book or anywhere else in our sources, and the word "winners" never appears in the program text.
- The program text points the sober member the other way: toward the man who is still drinking, "very ill" (p. 89), even to "the most sordid spot on earth" if he can help there (p. 102).
- It does describe newcomers being helped by people who have recovered, and it does say not to waste time chasing someone who won't work with you (p. 96). But it describes a fellowship where "No one is too discredited or has sunk too low to be welcomed cordially—if he means business" (p. 161), not one sorted into winners and losers.
What the search found
All our sources were searched for "winner(s)," "stick with," "stick around," "old-timers" and "successful," with page breaks joined. The saying isn't there. "Winner" appears only in a story title, "Winner Takes All" (Part II, p. 375), and in history books in unrelated senses.
Where the program text sends the member
Chapter 7, the chapter on carrying the message, is about going toward the sick: - Find drinkers who want to recover through doctors, ministers and hospitals (p. 89). "Remember they are very ill." (p. 89). - "Call on him while he is still jittery." (p. 91). - "You have to act the Good Samaritan every day, if need be." (p. 97), with trips to "police courts, sanitariums, hospitals, jails and asylums" (p. 97). - "Your job now is to be at the place where you may be of maximum helpfulness to others, so never hesitate to go anywhere if you can be helpful." (p. 102).
The chapter also says the company of sober members matters: "Frequent contact with newcomers and with each other is the bright spot of our lives." (p. 89), and it promises "a host of friends" (p. 89).
Where the text is close to the saying
Some of the saying's sense is in the text: - Learning from people who have recovered. The newcomer's attention is drawn to the member "as a person who has recovered" (p. 90), and the approach works because the helper has had the same difficulty and "obviously knows what he is talking about" (p. 18). In Chapter 11 the newcomer "capitulated entirely" when he heard the story of a man "whose experience closely tallied with his own" (p. 160). - Not staying with those who won't try. "We find it a waste of time to keep chasing a man who cannot or will not work with you." (p. 96). But the same paragraph's instruction is to find another drinker: "Search out another alcoholic and try again." (p. 96). It is about where the helper spends his effort, not about whose company protects him.
What the text says about who belongs
Chapter 11 describes the early gatherings: "No one is too discredited or has sunk too low to be welcomed cordially—if he means business." (p. 161). "Social distinctions, petty rivalries and jealousies—these are laughed out of countenance." (p. 161). The newcomer was won by "the absence of intolerance of any kind" (p. 160).
Bill W.'s 1946 Grapevine essay on membership goes further. Of those who slip, panhandle, rebel or scandalize: "We have begun to regard these not as menaces, but rather as our teachers." (P-17). Some of them, he says, "have become our most respected and best loved" (P-17).
What this means
If the saying means "learn from people who have what you want," the text is near it: Chapter 5's first page addresses the reader who has "decided you want what we have" (p. 58), and the newcomer is helped by the recovered man's story. If it means "keep company with the successful and avoid those who are struggling," the 1939 text and Bill's 1946 essay both point the other way: the sober member's job is to go to the one still sick. See: What is a "Twelfth Step call"?
Read it yourself
- 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. 159–164): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt11.pdf
- Chapter 2, "There Is a Solution" (p. 18): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/en_bigbook_chapt2.pdf
- P-17, The Twelve Traditions ("Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?", 1946): https://www.aa.org/sites/default/files/literature/assets/p-17_AATraditions.pdf
Sources
| Source | Pages | Date |
|---|---|---|
| All our sources (searched) | — | various |
| Alcoholics Anonymous, Chapters 2, 5, 7, 11 | 18, 58, 89–102, 160–161 | 1939 |
| P-17, "Who Is a Member of Alcoholics Anonymous?" | — | Grapevine, 1946 |
Recovery Starts is independent and not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous. Quotations are brief and cited; the Big Book is © 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.