{"author":"Mattie Stepanek","author_id":"Mattie+Stepanek","total_quotes":17,"quotes":[{"text":"If it came to a magic genie, I would ask him for two extra wishes. One would be that no one would have to live with the muscular dystrophy disease or any disease. And the second one would be world peace, that we just stop fighting, talk about things, and we could live in harmony once again, like God intended us to do.","author":"Mattie Stepanek","tags":["peace","world","live "],"id":3003,"author_id":"Mattie+Stepanek"},{"text":"Sometimes my body wakes me up and says 'Hey, you haven't had pain in a while. How about pain?' And sometimes I can't breathe, and that's hard to live with. But I still celebrate life and don't give up.","author":"Mattie Stepanek","tags":["celebrate-life","giving-up","pain"],"id":27997,"author_id":"Mattie+Stepanek"},{"text":"Maybe I wanted to have kids because you want to leave behind lessons, leave behind everything that matters to you. That's how you touch the world. But I have to reconsider what it's like to leave a legacy.","author":"Mattie Stepanek","tags":["future-plans","having-kids","legacy"],"id":81102,"author_id":"Mattie+Stepanek"},{"text":"I never question God. Sometimes I say, 'Why me? Why do I have such a hard life? Why do I have this disease? Why do I have siblings who died?' But then I think and say, 'Why not me?","author":"Mattie Stepanek","tags":["health","why-me"],"id":101191,"author_id":"Mattie+Stepanek"},{"text":"Poetry is a beautiful way of expressing feelings - happy, sad, angry, caring. It's also a way that we share with other people, to help them with those feelings.","author":"Mattie Stepanek","tags":["happy","beautiful","caring "],"id":118978,"author_id":"Mattie+Stepanek"},{"text":"I do fear death. But what I actually fear is not dying. I mean, true, it will be sad. But I know that there is a better place waiting for me.","author":"Mattie Stepanek","tags":["fear","sad","waiting "],"id":165979,"author_id":"Mattie+Stepanek"},{"text":"Keep all special thoughts and memories for lifetimes to come. Share these keepsakes with others to inspire hope and build from the past, which can bridge to the future.","author":"Mattie Stepanek","tags":["inspirational","future "],"id":189827,"author_id":"Mattie+Stepanek"},{"text":"I've gotten books published. I've met famous people that are very nice. I look back and I say, 'Wow. Thank you, God, for giving me this gift. And thank you for helping me to keep going.'.","author":"Mattie Stepanek","tags":["god","keep going","thank you "],"id":191446,"author_id":"Mattie+Stepanek"},{"text":"While we are living in the present, we must celebrate life every day, knowing that we are becoming history with every work, every action, every deed.","author":"Mattie Stepanek","tags":["life","work","day "],"id":220793,"author_id":"Mattie+Stepanek"},{"text":"My life mission is to spread peace to the world.","author":"Mattie Stepanek","tags":["life","world","my life "],"id":236037,"author_id":"Mattie+Stepanek"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":17,"pages":2,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}