Christopher Reeve Quotes

110 Christopher Reeve Quotes

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Nothing is Impossible.
Christopher Reeve

Once we choose hope, everything is possible.
Christopher Reeve

As the old saying goes, you better know what you want because you might get it and you’ve got to accept it.
Christopher Reeve

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.
Christopher Reeve

If we can conquer outer space, we should be able to conquer inners space too – the frontier of the brain, the central nervous system, and all the afflictions of the body that destroy so many lives and rob our country of so much potential.
Christopher Reeve

You make a choice or set a goal and let people know about it. Then just getting started leads to the discovery of internal resources that help us go father than we ever thought we could.
Christopher Reeve

The vast majority of people live within a comfort zone that is relatively small. The comfort zone is defined by fear and our perception of limitations.
Christopher Reeve

Even if you can’t move, you can have a powerful effect with what you say.
Christopher Reeve

I think the most important aspect of success has to do with finding a real passion for something in life. It means a responsibility to live up to one’s potential.
Christopher Reeve

We cannot expect children to be replicas of us.
Christopher Reeve



It is our responsibility to do everything possible to protect the quality of life of the present and future generations.
Christopher Reeve

While we prolong the stem cell debate, millions continue to suffer. It is time to harness the power of government and go forward.
Christopher Reeve

Success has a thousand fathers, while failure is an orphan.
Christopher Reeve

To say that I believed in Superman is quite an understatement. Of course I knew it was only a movie, but it seemed to me that the values embodied by Superman on the screen should be the values that prevail in the real world.
Christopher Reeve

My mind wandered back to my weight training for Superman, when I could bench-press more than my own weight. Now I was using the same amount of effort to pick up my wrist. … Then, in agonizing slow motion, my wrist started to move and the hand rose up.
Christopher Reeve

The vast majority of people live within a comfort zone that is relatively small. The comfort zone is defined by fear and our perception of limitations. We are occasionally willing to take small steps outside it, but few of us dare to expand it. Those who dare sometimes fail and retreat, but many experience the satisfaction of moving into a larger comfort zone and the joyful anticipation of more success.
Christopher Reeve

America has a tradition many nations probably envy: We frequently achieve the impossible.
Christopher Reeve

However long the journey, we will survive.
Christopher Reeve

Timing is very important: words can only have a positive effect on others if and when they are ready to listen. And we have to choose our words carefully, particularly when we are the voice of authority for people who are vulnerable.
Christopher Reeve

Virtually everything that parents say and do has a powerful effect on our children, even when we think they’re not paying attention.
Christopher Reeve



Activity-dependent training promotes functional recovery in chronic spinal cord injury.
Christopher Reeve

Hope must be real, and built on the same foundation as a lighthouse; in that way it is different from optimism or wishful thinking. When we have hope, we discover powers within ourselves we may have never known. – The power to make sacrifices, to endure, to heal, and to love. Once we choose hope, everything is possible.
Christopher Reeve

Now I know that improvised remarks don’t always translate well onto the written page.
Christopher Reeve

As the old saying goes, you better know what you want because you might get it and you’ve got to accept it. Whether you succeed or whether you encounter adversity, you always have to believe in your worth as a person. That’s what counts.
Christopher Reeve

[On recalling his twelfth grade English teacher, George Packard, and a classmate at Princeton Day School in 1970] Teacher: ‘Why weren’t you in class yesterday?’ Student: ‘Sir, I wasn’t feeling very well.’ Teacher: ‘The only excuse for non-attendance is quadruple amputation. But even then, they can still bring you to class in a basket.’
Christopher Reeve

When I was injured I thought that is must be my fault, that I was being punished for being a bad person. That’s a natural reaction. But part of what helped me to turn around fairly quickly was the core of discipline I had developed over the years. It helped me to see this as a new chapter in my life rather than the end of it.
Christopher Reeve

As parents we all have different ideas of what success means for our children. I think the most important aspect of success has to do with finding a real passion for something in life. It means a responsibility to live up to one’s potential. That has to be discovered; it can’t be forced upon a younger growing up. We cannot expect children to be replicas of us. From the minute they emerge from the womb they are already themselves. That must be honored, and they must be given the tools and opportunities to go as far as they possibly can on their own.
Christopher Reeve

So many of our dreams at first seem impossible, then they seem improbable, and then, when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable. If we can conquer outer space, we should be able to conquer inners space too – the frontier of the brain, the central nervous system, and all the afflictions of the body that destroy so many lives and rob our country of so much potential.
Christopher Reeve

I learned that as the result of a fall during an equestrian competition I had broken my neck just centimeters below the brain stem, and that my chances of surviving the surgery to reattach my head to my spinal column were 50/50 at best. Even if the operation was successful, I would still remain paralyzed from the shoulders down and unable to breathe on my own.
Christopher Reeve

The moment I understood the gravity of my situation my immediate reaction was that such a life was unacceptable, even though I knew absolutely nothing about living as a vent-dependent quadriplegic. I realized that there was no cure for spinal cord injuries like mine and that I would forever be dependent on others for the basic necessities of daily existence.
Christopher Reeve



My role as a husband and the father of three children would be severely compromised, because paralysis had suddenly transformed me into a forty-two-year-old infant. I thought it would be selfish and unfair to remain alive.
Christopher Reeve

I asked questions about the spinal cord and why the nerves inside it could not regenerate… No-body claimed to know for certain, but the prevailing explanation was that it had to do with evolution.
Christopher Reeve

First I had to learn to swallow.
Christopher Reeve

As I started to face reality during the month in intensive care and six months in rehab, moments from my former life kept popping into my head. It was like a slide slow, but the pictures were all out of sequence.
Christopher Reeve

The critical factor was that in spite of myself, I was adjusting to my new life.
Christopher Reeve

Today I am probably busier than I was before the accident.
Christopher Reeve

When people ask if I am disturbed by the fact that others pity me, I have to admit that the problem actually is that everyone seems to assume I can do almost anything.
Christopher Reeve

I tell people who have been injured recently… that life is worth living.
Christopher Reeve

Since the time of my injury, scientists all over the world have been steadily moving forward, although they are not progressing as rapidly as many patients would like. At least they have been saying publicly, and most of us believe privately, that it is no longer appropriate or necessary to use the word ‘impossible.’
Christopher Reeve

When things are really bad, you have to laugh.
Christopher Reeve



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