My contention is that as long as you have other faculties-the emotional, psychological, intuitive faculties-you haven't lost yourself or even diminished yourself. Don't be ashamed when you're physically limited or dysfunctional; don't think that you're any less because of your condition. In fact, I feel I am even more myself than I was before I got this illness because I have been able to transcend many of the psychological and emotional limitations I had before I developed ALS.

It's not too late to develop new friendships or reconnect with people.

What is it about silence that makes people uneasy?

Do I wither up and disappear, or do I make the best of my time left?

Because if you've found meaning in your life, you don't want to go back. You want to go forward.

In the beginning of life, when we are infants, we need others to survive. And at the end of life, we need others to survive. But here's the secret, in between, we need others as well.

We're involved in trillions of little acts just to keep going.