Initially it was a journey about one girl who wanted to go to the Paralympics but over the two years it has become something I was doing for everyone else. The reason I wanted to do it so badly was so I could stand here and show it can be done even if you have setbacks.

The dream of every kid is to play for the country, and I am no different.

It’s important to have a strong work ethic to succeed, and even more important to stay hungry for more.

The process of delving into the black abyss is to me the keenest form of fascination.

I am 5’6′ and desperately wish I was taller.

Your envy is a reflection of your deep desire.

Anything is possible as long as you’re focused, determined and you really want to do it.

I want to get so famous that I don’t have to wake up in the morning. It’ll probably never happen.

Do not allow me to forget you.

Men, believing in myths, will always fear something terrible, everlasting punishment as certain or probable . . . Men base all these fears not on mature opinions, but on irrational fancies, that they are more disturbed by fear of the unknown than by facing facts. Peace of mind lies in being delivered from all these fears.

The noble soul occupies itself with wisdom and friendship.

I have never wished to cater to the crowd; for what I know they do not approve, and what they approve I do not know.

It is better for you to be free of fear lying upon a pallet, than to have a golden couch and a rich table and be full of trouble.

Only the just man enjoys peace of mind.

A strict belief in fate is the worst of slavery, imposing upon our necks an everlasting lord and tyrant, whom we are to stand in awe of night and day.

Be moderate in order to taste the joys of life in abundance.

The time when most of you should withdraw into yourself is when you are forced to be in a crowd.

Pleasure is the first good. It is the beginning of every choice and every aversion. It is the absence of pain in the body and of troubles in the soul.

Man was not intended by nature to live in communities and be civilized.

Vain is the word of a philosopher which does not heal any suffering of man. For just as there is no profit in medicine if it does not expel the diseases of the body, so there is no profit in philosophy either, if it does not expel the suffering of the mind.

Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.

I never desired to please the rabble. What pleased them, I did not learn; and what I knew was far removed from their understanding.

It is folly for a man to pray to the gods for that which he has the power to obtain by himself.

If thou wilt make a man happy, add not unto his riches but take away from his desires.

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.

Love is not only something you feel, it is something you do.

If a Man Does His Best, What Else Is There?

I wish from my soul that the legislature of this State could see a policy of a gradual Abolition of Slavery.

I just want to paint that picture of Chicago that everybody’s missing, and I just want to rap about it.

These are the days of my life. Extra money, I’ve maxed out. I’m in a tizzy to get a lot.

I don’t want my kids to be on the streets period. I want my kids to be nerds. I want them to be book smart or playing sports – I don’t want them to know nothing about the streets.

Life takes on meaning when you become motivated, set goals and charge after them in an unstoppable manner.