“I could never have embraced this many people with two arms.”

Life is full of what-ifs. You can’t let it hold you back. If you do, you’re not really living at all… just kind of going through the motions with no meaning

To lose your everyday life of surfing and being creative on waves, enjoying the ocean – that’s scary to me. It was essential to at least try surfing again and get out there and see how it went.

God will give us the strength to be able to handle things. I mean, you can try to do it on your own, and sometimes you can pull off some stuff, but in the long run, it’s much easier with Him by our side.

Compassion can drive us to do amazing things and give us perspective.

Like, with one arm I know I can surf, but competitive surfing can be really frustrating, and sometimes you don’t do as well as you want to. It can be discouraging at times. But whenever I do get frustrated, I just focus on God.

It’s hard for me to describe the joy I felt after I stood up and rode wave in for the first time after the attack. I was incredibly thankful and happy inside. The tiny bit of doubt that would sometimes tell me you’ll never surf again was gone in one wave.

It’s been amazing to touch people’s lives.

My favorite thing [about surfing] is being creative on waves; it’s like an art form. You can do whatever you want on that wave if you work hard at it and just have fun out there.

Your looks do not define who you are.

Losing an arm is kinda lame at one point, but at the same time, so much good has come out of it.

The author describes how impressed she was with the detailed storyboards that outlined her movie – “not just sketches, but real art”. She then describes a Hawaiian sunset as, “God painting His storyboard on the sky”.

You don’t need easy, you just need possible.

Surfing for me is more than my lifestyle; it’s my passion, my love and it’s a part of me.

Being creative on the waves is challenging, but we each create art in our own way.

I guess I just like to challenge myself and push myself harder to do things that I dont think I can, to do things that other people do not think I can. It pushes me. I push my own personal limits.

Surfing is very special and unique. It’s really hard to explain unless you’ve tried it. It’s being out in the ocean in the sun, the water on your skin, and the adrenalin rush when you catch a wave. You have to be creative so it’s like an art form in a way.

It’s time to float on the waters of the night. Time to wrap my arms around this book and press it to my chest, life preserver in a seat of unremarkable men and women anonymous faces on the street, a hundred thousand unalphabitized things a million forgotten hours.

What’s gonna happen to the arms industry when we realize we’re all one. Ha ha ha ha ha! It’s gonna fuck up the economy!

I wouldn’t change what happened to me because then I wouldn’t have this chance, in front of all of you, to embrace more people than I ever could have with two arms.

Losing an arm is kinda lame at one point, but at the same time, so much good has come out of it.

It’s true that I am not from the south and I have a certain reserve. I take time to get close to, and I don’t immediately throw my arms round someone. But it is more a question of style.

Therefore gird yourselves manfully and take up joyful arms for the name of God.

I don’t need to pat myself on the back until my arm breaks. I don’t need any of that.

I take time to get close to, and I don’t immediately throw my arms round someone.