I’m not resigned, but I’m realistic too. The statistics in my case are very poor. Not many people come through esophageal cancer and live to talk about it, or not for long. And the other wager is, the part of the wager, it’s a certainty you’ll have a terrible time and you may wish you were dying because it’s an awful process.

Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.

Precaution is better than cure.

I’ve played with IVs before, during and after games. I’ve played with a broken hand, a sprained ankle, a torn shoulder, a fractured tooth, a severed lip, and a knee the size of a softball. I don’t miss 15 games because of a toe injury that everybody knows wasn’t that serious in the first place.

When I started my last business, I didn’t receive a paycheck for 13 months. The average person can’t handle that pressure.

Ninety percent of the cases of polio are in security-vulnerable areas.

The world at large is less inequitable today than at any time in history. Number of people in abject poverty, as a percentage, is at all-time low.

Truth stands, even if there be no public support. It is self-sustained.

Everyone has his day and some days last longer than others.

If it’s stress of things that we cannot control, what you have to do is you mitigate that stress as much as possible. You’ve planned, you’ve trained, you’ve done everything you can in your power to mitigate the stress that’s facing you. And then after that, there’s nothing you can do. So, you have to let that one go.

Just because something didn’t work out your way, or somebody disappointed you, that does not change who you are.

Experience is not what happens to you; it’s what you do with what happens to you.

Before success comes in any man’s life, he’s sure to meet with much temporary defeat and, perhaps some failures. When defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and the most logical thing to do is to quit. That’s exactly what the majority of men do.

In fact, my courage and my bravery at a young age was the thing I was bullied for, a kind of ‚Who do you think you are?‘

Cancer victimhood contains a permanent temptation to be self-centred and even solipsistic.

Every action has a consequence. It may be good for strengthening. And I have no doubt that lifting a lot of weights can get you stronger. I just don’t know if lifting stronger weights can keep you healthy, or it can keep you doing your job better, especially for a pro athlete.

I don’t think there is any philosophy that suggests having polio is a good thing.

When defeat comes, accept it as a signal that your plans are not sound, rebuild those plans, and set sail once more toward your coveted goal.

You should read history and look at ostracism, persecution, martyrdom, and that kind of thing. They always happen to the best men, you know.

From the middle of life onward, only he remains vitally alive who is ready to die with life.

Dave Mackay is my definition of a superstar. The man broke his leg three times, but wouldn’t be carried off. He walked off.

He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.

That’s the biggest gift I can give anybody: ‚Wake up, be aware of who you are, what you’re doing and what you can do to prevent yourself from becoming ill.‘

It’s never paid to bet against America. We come through things, but its not always a smooth ride.

I’m much healthier now.

Being president is like being a jackass in a hailstorm. There’s nothing to do but to stand there and take it.

I have a difficult time sitting down for long periods.

You’ve got to learn to survive a defeat. That’s when you develop character.

There’s many ups and downs in the fight game.

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.

Any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

At the beginning when the child is coming, people worry the child may be deformed. When a healthy boy or child comes, people are very happy for a short moment.

There are many victories worse than a defeat.

If you look at my life, generally, I’ve been put in situations which were difficult and which I conquered.

People will try to bring you down, but you gotta go up.

Life is a gamble. You can get hurt, but people die in plane crashes, lose their arms and legs in car accidents; people die every day. Same with fighters: some die, some get hurt, some go on. You just don’t let yourself believe it will happen to you.

Nature is often hidden, sometimes overcome, seldom extinguished.

My father had died, and very swiftly, too, of cancer of the esophagus. He was 79. I am 61. In whatever kind of a ‚race‘ life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist.

While we should never give up our principles, we must also realize that we cannot maintain our principles unless we survive.

In general, mankind, since the improvement of cookery, eats twice as much as nature requires.

I think a big test we all face in life on a regular basis is that discouragement test. Life’s not always fair, but I believe if you keep doing the right thing, God will get you to where you are.

If patience is worth anything, it must endure to the end of time. And a living faith will last in the midst of the blackest storm.

The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.

Always fall in with what you’re asked to accept. Take what is given, and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever’s going. Not against: with.

What is called genius is the abundance of life and health.

The best way out of a difficulty is through it.

Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.

If God treats you well by teaching you a disastrous lesson, you never forget it.

Courage is found in unlikely places.

It seems that when you have cancer you are a brave battler against the disease, but when you have Alzheimer’s you are an old fart. That’s how people see you. It makes you feel quite alone.

There is nothing in the world so much admired as a man who knows how to bear unhappiness with courage.

I think sometimes the best training is to rest.

When I meet people who say – which they do all of the time – ‚I must just tell you, my great aunt had cancer of the elbow and the doctors gave her 10 seconds to live, but last I heard she was climbing Mount Everest,‘ and so forth, I switch off quite early.

Early on in my life, I had a broken soul. I was abused by my father, abandoned by my mother and ended up in a destructive first marriage. By the time I was 23, I was broken in my soul. I didn’t know how to think right. I felt wrong about everything. But God stepped into my life, and I came out on the other side and didn’t even smell like smoke.

It occurred to me that there was no difference between men, in intelligence or race, so profound as the difference between the sick and the well.

I heard that when Christina Aguilera went back to her prom, people, like, booed her. I can’t imagine going through that. If you know that’s going to happen, why put yourself in that situation? I’d rather play for 20,000 screaming people, you know?

All the adversity I’ve had in my life, all my troubles and obstacles, have strengthened me… You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.

My only fear is that I may live too long. This would be a subject of dread to me.

I love being active.

It is often said that before you die your life passes before your eyes. It is in fact true. It’s called living.

My life as a child did not prepare me for the fact that the world is full of cruel and bitter things.