Go Placidly amid the noise and haste

From the AA Grapevine Digital Archive:

Volume 17 Issue 2
July 1960


GO PLACIDLY amid the noise and the haste and remember what peace there may be in silence as far as possible without surrender. Be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant. They too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become bitter or vain, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs for the world is full of trickery, but let this not blind you to what virtue there is. Many persons strive for high ideals and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection, neither be cynical about love, for, in the face of aridity and disenchantment, it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the council of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune, but do not distress yourself with dark imaginings; many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here, and whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should, therefore be at peace with God. Whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world."