“I came to a conclusion; the world I've always wanted doesn't exist, I have no hope in the 'individual' people of any state or country, and life just sucks. And then I came to an epiphany; Life can get better, humanity as a whole is the saving grace of this world, and I shouldn't complain about something that I can fix.”

“I spent most of my teen years trying to figure out the rules of life, theories for why things happened, why people behaved as they did, and mostly I came to the conclusion that either there were no rules, or the rules sucked. Reading science fiction wasn't about imagining myself into some more exciting life filled with adventure, it was about finding a world where things worked the way I wanted them to.”

“I've always wanted to get as far as possible from the place where I was born. Far both geographically and spiritually. To leave it behind ... I feel that life is very short and the world is there to see and one should know as much about it as possible. One belongs to the whole world, not just one part of it.”

“Hope. It is the most important thing in the world. I believe that now more than ever. Hope is what saved my life, hope is what gave me the courage and the strength to carry on. Hope – that unshakeable, golden belief that things can get better.”

“There will be a tomorrow that exists without me. And I know that. When that day arrives, I want this world to have seen greater beauty because I existed. I want my life to have meant something. I want this world to be brighter. I want this world to be happier. I want people to have smiled more and to have laughed more because I've spent time here. I want others to have seen and felt the uniqueness of my spirit. And if I accomplish that, when my soul does move on and my gift stays here and makes just one ripple; I will look down and I will smile. I will smile wide.”

“I do what I do because I will always believe that no matter how awful life gets for however many of these people, there is something I can do about it. There is something I will do about it.”