Big Book Page 61
Chapter 5 – How It Works · pages 58–71
"Everybody, including himself, would be pleased. Life would be wonderful. In trying to make these arrange ments our actor may sometimes be quite virtuous."— Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition, page 61. A short quotation, for identification and study. Read the whole page in your own copy →
What's on page 61
Page 61 sits in Chapter 5, How It Works, which runs pages 58–71. That's the stretch of the book where Steps 3 and 4 are worked through.
Reading the page itself, the language here turns on selfishness, employment. That's taken from the page's own words — not from anybody's summary of them.
Read it for yourself
We don't reproduce the Big Book here. The book belongs to Alcoholics Anonymous — and honestly, the book is better than any summary of it. Buy a copy from A.A., read it free at aa.org, or pick one up at a meeting. Then come back and search it when you're chasing a line you only half-remember.
Quick answers
What chapter of the Big Book is page 61 in?
Page 61 is in Chapter 5, “How It Works”, which runs pages 58–71 in Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition. That is the part of the book where Steps 3 and 4 are worked through.
What is on page 61 of the Big Book?
Page 61 sits in Chapter 5 – How It Works. Reading the page itself, its language turns on selfishness, employment. Recovery Starts does not reproduce the Big Book — the book belongs to A.A. — so to read the page in full, get your own copy.
Which Step does page 61 of the Big Book relate to?
Page 61 falls in the pages where the Big Book works through Steps 3 and 4 (pages 58–71 in the 4th Edition). The Big Book does not put the Steps in tidy chapters of their own — the instructions run continuously through the text, which is why a page reference matters more than a Step number.
Can I read page 61 of the Big Book online for free?
Not here — Recovery Starts does not reproduce Alcoholics Anonymous, because the book belongs to A.A. and the book is better than any summary of it. You can read the Big Book free at aa.org, buy a copy from the official A.A. store, or pick one up at almost any meeting. Recovery Starts can tell you which page a passage is on and search the book for you; for the words themselves, go to the book.
This is an independent Big Book reference page from Recovery Starts — not official AA literature, not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, and not medical advice. Page references are to Alcoholics Anonymous (the Big Book), 4th Edition. Short quotations appear for identification and study; the full text of the book is not reproduced here — get your own copy. If you're in crisis, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).