Quotes from Mattie Stepanek

People will come up to me everywhere and say, 'Ah, I saw you on 'Larry King,' and, 'Ah, I saw you on 'Oprah.' And it's really nice, and a lot of people say, 'Is it a pain?' And I say 'No.' And it's not annoying.

Sometimes my body wakes me up and says 'Hey, you haven't had pain in a while. How about pain?' And sometimes I can't breathe, and that's hard to live with. But I still celebrate life and don't give up.

Sunset is still my favorite color, and rainbow is second.

I think that someone is watching out for me, God, my guardian angel, I'm not sure who that is, but they really work hard.

I feel that God has given me a very special opportunity that I should not let go to waste. I use the gift he has given me.

I've gotten books published. I've met famous people that are very nice. I look back and I say, 'Wow. Thank you, God, for giving me this gift. And thank you for helping me to keep going.'

God gives me hope that there is something greater than us, something better and bigger than the here and now, that can help us live.

Keep all special thoughts and memories for lifetimes to come. Share these keepsakes with others to inspire hope and build from the past, which can bridge to the future.

Poetry is a beautiful way of expressing feelings - happy, sad, angry, caring. It's also a way that we share with other people, to help them with those feelings.

Wars should be fought with words, not bombs, not weapons. And calm words. I think that wars should be fought over a chessboard and a cup of something to drink.

It doesn't matter how you pray. Just pray. All religions are beautiful and they all have one common belief. There's something bigger and greater than us that can give us and take from us life. It is better than the here and now.

I do fear death. But what I actually fear is not dying. I mean, true, it will be sad. But I know that there is a better place waiting for me.

Remember to look at your glass half full and not half empty. A lot of my strength comes from God. God has given me a gift - the gift of life - and it's amazing that I live each day.

The doctor said, 'He can't last a week.' And I did. And they said, 'There's no way this kid's going to last a month.' And I did. And so they said, 'Two years. He's not going to make it.' Two years. 'Five years. He can't do that.' I lived to be five years. 'He's never going to hit double digits.' And here I am, a new teenager.

I never question God. Sometimes I say, 'Why me? Why do I have such a hard life? Why do I have this disease? Why do I have siblings who died?' But then I think and say, 'Why not me?'

My life mission is to spread peace to the world.

Expressing my feelings and then the opportunity to share it with others is just such a gift.

I write to express my thoughts, my feelings. I want people to think.

I choose to live until death, not spend the time dying until death occurs.

My disease is a very rare form of muscular dystrophy, called disautonomic mitochondrial myopathy.

I think I may have to grow up without growing old. I think we're going to have to define differently what I'm going to be. We're going to have to define my growing up differently.

Unity is strength... when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.

If it came to a magic genie, I would ask him for two extra wishes. One would be that no one would have to live with the muscular dystrophy disease or any disease. And the second one would be world peace, that we just stop fighting, talk about things, and we could live in harmony once again, like God intended us to do.

We all have life storms, and when we get the rough times and we recover from them, we should celebrate that we got through it. No matter how bad it may seem, there's always something beautiful that you can find.