Cunning, Baffling, Powerful

From Chapter 5, in the lines just after the Twelve Steps are listed for the first time.

Three words that have outlived every slogan since, because they aren’t dramatic — they’re accurate. The disease doesn’t announce itself; it negotiates, rationalizes, waits. “Without help it is too much for us” isn’t pessimism — it’s the whole case for not doing this alone. You don’t outsmart cunning by yourself; you outnumber it. A sponsor, a meeting, a phone list. That’s not weakness. That’s strategy.