Best 37 quotes of Mattie Stepanek on MyQuotes

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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

...if you live feeling like Your glass is half empty, well, It may as well be empty all the way.

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.

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?'

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.

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'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.'

I want to be remembered as a poet, a peacemaker, and a philosopher who played.

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

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.

Maybe I wanted to have kids because you want to leave behind lessons, leave behind everything that matters to you. That's how you touch the world. But I have to reconsider what it's like to leave a legacy.

My life mission is to spread peace to the world.

People are fighting over how our heartsongs are different. But they don't need to be the same. That's the beauty. We are a mosaic of gifts. Each of us has our inner beauty no matter how we look.

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.

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.

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.

Sad things happen. They do. But we don't need to live sad forever.

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.

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.

There can be many different views of what Heaven is like, because Heaven is whatever makes each person eternally and fully happy.

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

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.

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.

We're divorced from my father because he did some mean and scary things to us.

While we are living in the present, we must celebrate life every day, knowing that we are becoming history with every work, every action, every deed.

You can't lie down in the ashes of another person's life.

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.

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.

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

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