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Do not breathe simply to exist.

Mattie Stepanek

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Mattie Stepanek
Age: 13 †
Born: 1990
Born: July 17
Died: 2004
Died: June 22
Author
Poet
Writer
Washington
District of Columbia
Matthew Joseph Thaddeus Stepanek
Breathe
Exist
Simply

More quotes by Mattie Stepanek

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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.
Mattie Stepanek
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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.
Mattie Stepanek
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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.
Mattie Stepanek
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If you have enough breath to complain about anything, you have more than enough reason to give thanks about something.
Mattie Stepanek
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We're divorced from my father because he did some mean and scary things to us.
Mattie Stepanek
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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.
Mattie Stepanek
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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.
Mattie Stepanek
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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.
Mattie Stepanek
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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.
Mattie Stepanek
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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.
Mattie Stepanek
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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.
Mattie Stepanek
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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.
Mattie Stepanek
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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.
Mattie Stepanek
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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.'
Mattie Stepanek
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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.
Mattie Stepanek
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I choose to live until death, not spend the time dying until death occurs.
Mattie Stepanek
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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.
Mattie Stepanek
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Remember to play after every storm.
Mattie Stepanek
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Expressing my feelings and then the opportunity to share it with others is just such a gift.
Mattie Stepanek
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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.
Mattie Stepanek