Christopher D'Olier Reeve (September 25, 1952 - October 10, 2004) was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist. He achieved stardom for his acting achievements, in particular his motion picture portrayal of the fictional superhero Superman.
On May 27, 1995, Reeve became a quadriplegic after being thrown from a horse during an equestrian competition in Culpeper, VA. He required a wheelchair and breathing apparatus for the rest of his life. He lobbied on behalf of people with spinal-cord injuries and for human embryonic stem cell research, founding the Christopher Reeve Foundation and co-founding the Reeve-Irvine Research Center. (Click for full Wikipedia article.)
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By reaching out, more comes back than you can possibly imagine.
Even if your body doesn't work the way it used to, the heart and the mind and the spirit are not diminished.
Even though I don't personally believe in the Lord, I try to behave as though He was watching.
Gratitude, like love, needs to be active.
I don't want Superman to be accused of being a piece of American propaganda. We're living in a global village now, and there has to be a new heightened awareness of our interactions as people on this planet.
I refuse to allow a disability to determine how I live my life. There is only one way to go in life and that is forward.
I think a hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles. They are the real heroes, and so are the families and friends who have stood by them.
I think we all have a little voice inside us that will guide us. It may be God, I don't know. But I think that if we shut out all the noise and clutter from our lives and listen to that voice, it will tell us the right thing to do.
If I can laugh, I can live.
In the face of adversity, hope often comes in the form of a friend who reaches out to us.
It's very hard for me to be silly about Superman, because I've seen firsthand how he actually transforms people's lives. I have seen children dying of brain tumors who wanted as their last request to talk to me, and have gone to their graves with a peace brought on by knowing that their belief in this kind of character really matters. It's not Superman the tongue-in-cheek cartoon character they're connecting with; they're connecting with something very basic: the ability to overcome obstacles, the ability to persevere, the ability to understand difficulty and to turn your back on it.
Living a life with meaning means spreading the word. Even if you can't move, you can have a powerful effect with what you say.
Living in fear is not living at all.
Never accept ultimatums, conventional wisdom, or absolutes.
Once you choose hope, anything's possible.
So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.
Some people are walking around with full use of their bodies and they're more paralyzed than I am.
The Unitarian believes that God is good, and believes that God believes that man is good. Inherently. The Unitarian God is not a God of vengeance. And that is something I can appreciate.
There is a relationship between the mind and the body that can both create a physical condition and enable us to recover from it.
We all have powers within us that we don't know exist until we're tested. There are no limitations to what you can do if you have the determination.
We live in a culture of diminished ethics and morality, but there are resources within us we known little about... by searching for the best within ourselves we can create a better society and a better world.
We live in a time when the words impossible and unsolvable are no longer part of the scientific community's vocabulary. Each day we move closer to trials that will not just minimize the symptoms of disease and injury but eliminate them.
What I do is based on powers we all have inside us; the ability to endure; the ability to love, to carry on, to make the best of what we have- and you don't have to be a 'Superman' to do it.
You begin to say to yourself, instead of 'What life do I have?' is 'What life can I build?' And the answer, surprisingly, is, 'More than you think.'
You play the hand you're dealt. I think the game's worthwhile.
You should have a dream and absolutely go for it. Don't let anybody say you can't do it.
You should take some responsibility for the way you present yourself. But you should not be hung up on your looks, whether you are ugly or handsome, because it isn't an achievement.
Your body is not who you are. The mind and spirit transcend the body.
Categories: Christopher Reeve, Quotes of the day
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