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

I gave my heart to Jesus when I was five-years-old and since then it’s been a special relationship. To me it’s not a religion; it’s just talking to God, reading his word, and doing my best to honor him in everything I do.

I can’t change it, That was God’s plan for my life and I’m going to go with it.

We all need that extra friend outside of our immediate family to talk about that extra stuff you wouldn’t normally talk to your parents about.

I’m actually not star-struck… I like to give people their own space and admire them from a distance.

My strength came from my relationship with Christ and from the love and encouragement of my family and friends.

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.

I believe in Jesus Christ, and I believe He gave me the passion and determination to continue surfing. You fall off the horse, and you get back on. I had to go for it.

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.

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.

Just remember the world is not a playground but a schoolroom. Life is not a holiday but an education. One eternal lesson for us all: to teach us how better we should love.

Life itself is nothing but relationship.

Life on the planet is born of woman.

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline.

Oh, how horrible our sins look when they are committed by someone else.

Greatness is a lot of small things done well, stacked up on each other.

There’s a spirit that grabs me, and it’s in every one of you guys, but the questions is, how much time are we wasting?

It doesn’t really matter how fast you’re going if you’re heading in the wrong direction.