Amy Purdy

Growing up in the hot Last Vegas desert, all I wanted was to be free. I would daydream about traveling the world, living in a place where it snowed, and I would picture all of the stories that I would go on to tell. ”

You don't always have to have the most amazing story. It's learning to share the story you have that counts. ”

I'm learning how strong I am, how resilient I am. I'm learning my weaknesses. ”

Dancers know how to move their arms and their hands. But I don't know the first thing about how to move my arms and hands gracefully. ”

A lot of times, people think 'para' as far as 'paralyzed.' 'Para' means 'alongside,' so the Paralympics are alongside the Olympics on the same courses, the same hills. ”

If we can see past preconceived limitations, then the possibilities are endless. ”

The thing with prosthetic feet is you can't have all this crazy motion, or you'd be all over the place - because it's mechanical, and it's outside your body. ”

It's when I compare myself to what other people are able to do that I run into trouble. It is a bummer. I just constantly try to put things into perspective. ”

We did everything we could to save my legs, and it just came to a point where if we didn't amputate my legs, I wouldn't survive. In that situation, you kind of go into survival mode, and you find strength. ”

I guess I'm always up for a challenge. ”