For me, living means I can be responsive to the other person. It means I can show my emotions and my feelings. Talk to them. Feel with them.

Well, the truth is, if you really listen to that bird on your shoulder, if you accept that you can die at any time–then you might not be as ambitious as you are.

Is today the day? Am I ready? Am I doing all I need to do? Am I being the person I want to be?

We put our values in the wrong things. And it leads to very disillusioned lives.

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.

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

What is it about silence that makes people uneasy?