“You have to have a lot of patience to hear those old people talk, because when they talk, they talk about motivation, the feeling, the unsound that is around the universe. They explain everything to one understanding. They bring it all together, and when they finish, just one word comes out. Just one word. They might talk all day, and just one word comes out."

Wallace Black Elk  Lakota

The elder statesmen is the one who sees the wisdom of the group's decision, who holds no resentment over his reduced status, whose judgment, fortified by considerable experience, is sound, and who is willing to sit quietly on the sidelines patiently awaiting developments.

Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions  pg. 135

Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

"So spoke the group conscience. The group was right and I was wrong; the voice on the subway was not the voice of God. Here was the true voice, welling up out of my friends. I listened, and--thank God--I obeyed."

Twelve Steps & Twelve Traditions  pg 138

Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

"Let's not louse this thing up; let's keep it simple." 

 Dr. Bob  “AA Comes of age”  pg. 214

Reprinted with permission A.A.W.S.

Creator let me listen to the elders.