Mattie Stepanek Quotes

I would not have lasted a minute, literally a minute, on this Earth without God and angels by my side, because I was born. And right as I was born, I went into a respiratory arrest. So, big things that keep me going are friends and family, God. And another thing is looking forward to what's going to happen tomorrow.

It's the song in your heart that wants you to help make yourself a better person, and to help other people do the same. Everybody has one.

I want to keep publishing books, and writing and spreading my heartsong through the world.

If you have enough breath to complain about anything, you have more than enough reason to give thanks about something.

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

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.

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.

Remember to play after every storm.

Let this truly be
The celebration of
A New Year…
Let us remember
The past, yet
Not dwell in it.
Let us fully use
The present, yet
Not waste it.
Let us live for
The future, yet
Not count on it

Written by Mattie, aged 11

My life mission is to spread peace to the world.

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.

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.

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

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.

Every year, once a year, in Maryland, I go for a week and overnight camp with about 50 to 60 kids with muscular dystrophy, all ages, seven to 21. And it is really fun. I have some great friends there and wonderful counselors.

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

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.

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.

A heartsong doesn't have to be a song in your heart. It doesn't have to be talking about love and peace. It can just be your message. It can be your feeling. Some people might even call it a conscience, even though that's not really what it is. It's your message, what you feel like you need to do.

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?'

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.

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.

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

I have a song deep in my heart, And only I can hear it. If I close my eyes and sit very still ... It is so easy to listen to my song. When my eyes are open and I am so Busy and moving and busy, If I take time and listen very hard, I can still hear my Heartsong. It makes me feel happy. Happier than ever. Happier than everywhere And everything and everyone In the whole wide world. Happy like thinking about Going to Heaven when I die. My Heartsong sounds like this: I love you! I love you! How happy you can be! How happy you can make this whole World be.

The way of life is not as easy as some people think ... like me.

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.

Live your best life, be your best self, give what you wish to receive.

We always have to choose to live our lives to the fullest. No one is better or worse than anyone else. We are different and beautiful.

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

You know, it's kind of hard because I really - I see kids on their Rollerblades and their bikes, and just running around, climbing trees, and I used to do that. And I loved doing that.