Aimee Mullins Quotes

“A lot of my life is about will – having the will to prove what my body can do.”

“Adversity is just change that we haven't adapted ourselves to yet.”

“Adversity isn't an obstacle that we need to get around in order to resume living our life. It's part of our life.”

“An athlete experiences the emotions of pain and elation through triumph and defeat, through teamwork and individuality, as nothing more than a human being. That is the true glory of sport.”

“At some point in every person's life, you will need an assisted medical device – whether it's your glasses, your contacts, or as you age and you have a hip replacement or a knee replacement or a pacemaker. The prosthetic generation is all around us.”

“Beauty is not skin-deep; it can be a means of self-affirmation, a true indicator of personality and confidence.”

“Belief in oneself is incredibly infectious. It generates momentum, the collective force of which far outweighs any kernel of self-doubt that may creep in.”

“Confidence is the sexiest thing a woman can have. It's much sexier than any body part.”

“Everyone is really afraid of getting out there and not being good. That's the challenge: To be afraid and know people are staring at you and know you might not do all that well, but you do it anyway.

What singles out the successful athlete from the ones who never make it past a plateau, it that successful athletes risk failure, even though they are terrified.”

“Half of Hollywood has more prosthetic in their body than I do, but we don't think of them as disabled.

You amputate part of a nose, that's 'enhancement'. You put a prosthetic in a breast cavity, that's 'augmentation'.

But you amputate part of a limb and put a prosthetic there, it's 'disability'?”

“I had a paper round and every night I would put the dinner on before Mum came home from work. I was capable because I had to be.”

“I hate the words 'handicapped' and 'disabled'. They imply that you are less than whole. I don't see myself that way at all.”

“I have learned not to overlook the advantages of being me. From when I was a softball player, and I held the stolen bases record.

I would slide into second with my prostheses, and the girl on the base could either step aside or meet two wooden sticks.”

“I haven't had an easy life, but at some point, you have to take responsibility for yourself and shape who it is that you want to be.

I have no time for moaners. I like to chase my dreams and surround myself with other people who are chasing their dreams, too.”

“I like that Pilates compromises the mind and body. It's not just about being able to run around the block a few times.

It's about alleviating stress and controlling breathing. It's about being balanced.”

“I think that everyone has something about themselves that they feel is their weakness... their 'disability'.

And I'm certain we all have one, because I think of a disability as being anything which undermines our belief and confidence in our own abilities.”

“I'm not running around as a continual ray of sunshine. It's just I don't believe in wasting time feeling sorry for myself. Get over it.”

“I've had journalists asking me, 'What do we call you – is it handicapped, are you disabled, physically challenged?'

I said, Well hopefully you could just call me Aimee. But if you have to describe it, I'm a bilateral below-the-knee amputee.”

“If left to their own devices a child will achieve.”

“If we want to discover the full potential in our humanity, we need to celebrate those heartbreaking strengths and those glorious disabilities that we all have... It is our humanity, and all the potential within it that makes us beautiful.”

“If you watch any John Hughes film of the eighties, that was my childhood experience.”

“In athletics, the idea of possibility is presumed. It's not 'if'; it's 'how'.”

“In sports, I refused to do any interviews that were just going to become human-interest stories. Don't turn me into a tragic heroine.”

“It's an objective fact that I am a double amputee, but it's very subjective opinion as to whether that makes me disabled.”

“It's hard enough for women to walk on high heels. And I'm on stilts!”

“Life is about making your own happiness – and living by your own rules.”

“Our responsibility is not simply shielding those we care for from adversity but preparing them to meet it well.”

“Pamela Anderson has more prosthetic in her body than I do. Nobody calls her disabled.”

“Success isn't winning every time. A lot of different factors go into every race, and you can't control all of them. Success means doing as excellent a job as you can on that particular day.

The people I admire most aren't necessarily the most wonderful athletes. I admire the ones who keep coming back and doing it, time after time.”

“Sure, I'd love to have children some day. But world domination comes first.”