- Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.
 - For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
 - The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.
 - Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.
 - Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
 - An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
 - Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
 - Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
 - A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
 - Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
 - Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.
 - Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
 
Reprinted from the book Alcoholics Anonymous ® Copyright © 1939, 1955, 1976, 2001 by A.A. World Services, Inc. 100 M 9/09 (RP) P-10 www.aa.org