More Than Words

Released: Wednesday, August 10, 2011

More Than Words

by Jennifer Spina

Assisting many women each day with breast cancer has made me somewhat of a therapist.  I try to give each client at United Breast Cancer Foundation some hope.  Assisting financially does give hope that things will get better with their finances, but they still need and crave emotional support.  I listen and tell them we, United Breast Cancer Foundation, are here for whatever need they may have, whether that means financially or emotional support.  So to all those who need a smile and some HOPE, I found these very inspirational quotes, from the average person to some very famous people who have battled cancer or have impacted us to make us who are today. 

Inspirational Quotes:

“If children have the ability to ignore all odds and percentages, then maybe we can all learn from them.  When you think about it, what other choice is there but to hope?  We have two options, medically and emotionally:  give up, or fight like hell.”  ~Lance Armstrong

“Cancer is a word, not a sentence.” ~John Diamond

“My cancer scare changed my life.  I'm grateful for every new, healthy day I have. It has helped me prioritize my life.”  ~Olivia Newton-John

Bill Hemmer:  "You said cancer changes your life, and often times for the better."

Joel Siegel:  "Yes.... Gilda Radner... said this in her book.  What cancer does is, it forces you to focus, to prioritize, and you learn what's important.  I mean, I don't sweat the small stuff.  I used to get angry at cab drivers.  It's not worth it.... And when somebody says you have cancer, you realize it's all small stuff.  And what Gilda said is, if it weren't for the downside, everyone would want to have it.  But there is a downside."
~American Morning, CNN, 13 June 2003

“My veins are filled, once a week with a Neapolitan carpet cleaner distilled from the Adriatic and I am as bald as an egg.  However I still get around and am mean to cats.”  ~John Cheever, letter to Philip Roth, 10 May 1982, published in The Letters of John Cheever, 1989, concerning his cancer and its treatment


“During chemo, you're more tired than you've ever been.  It's like a cloud passing over the sun, and suddenly you're out.  You don't know how you'll answer the door when your groceries are delivered.  But you also find that you're stronger than you've ever been.  You're clear.  Your mortality is at optimal distance, not up so close that it obscures everything else, but close enough to give you depth perception.  Previously, it has taken you weeks, months, or years to discover the meaning of an experience.  Now it's instantaneous.”  ~Melissa Bank


“We "need" cancer because, by the very fact of its incurability, it makes all other diseases, however virulent, not cancer.”  ~Gilbert Adair, "Under the Sign of Cancer," Myths and Memories, 1986

“Women agonize... over cancer; we take as a personal threat the lump in every friend's breast.”  ~Martha Weinman Lear, Heartsounds

“The most important thing in illness is never to lose heart.”  ~Nikolai Lenin

“Feed your faith and your fears will starve to death.”  ~Author Unknown

“Know, then, whatever cheerful and serene supports the mind supports the body too.”
~John Armstrong

“Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” ~Winston Churchill

“As your faith is strengthened you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will, and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit.”  ~Emmanuel

“Some days there won't be a song in your heart.  Sing anyway.”  ~Emory Austin

“The human spirit is stronger than anything that can happen to it.” ~C.C. Scott

“When the Japanese mend broken objects, they aggrandize the damage by filling the cracks with gold.  They believe that when something's suffered damage and has a history it becomes more beautiful.”  ~Barbara Bloom

“I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains”.  ~Anne Frank


“Never, never, never give up.”  ~Winston Churchill