Nicholas James – “Nick” Vujicic – is an Australian Christian evangelist and motivational speaker born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder characterised by the absence of all four limbs. As a child, he struggled mentally and emotionally as well as physically, but eventually came to terms with his disability and, at the age of seventeen, started his own non-profit organisation, Life Without Limbs. Vujicic presents motivational speeches worldwide which focus on life with a disability, hope and finding meaning in life. He also speaks about his belief that God can use any willing heart to do his work and that God is big enough to overcome any disability.

Quotes by Nick Vujicic:

1. If you can’t get a miracle, become one.
2. You are awesome just the way you are.
3. Life without limbs? Or life without limits?
4. FAITH: Full Assurance In The Heart.
5. If I fail, I try again, and again, and again.
6. You can’t even stand without risking to fall.
7. Some injuries heal more quickly if you keep moving.
8. The greater the struggle the more glorious the triumph.
9. God’s love is so real that He created you to prove it.
10. FEAR is often described as False Evidence Appearing Real.
11. I am God’s creation, designed according to His plan for me.
12. People always complain that they can’t do this and they can’t do that.
13. Trade the life of self pity, that I was living, for a life of purpose!
14. In life you have a choice: Bitter or Better? Choose better, forget bitter.
15. There are things in your life that you can’t control and gotta live with.
16. I never met a bitter person who was thankful. Or a thankful person who was bitter.
17. Don’t put your life on hold so that you can dwell on the unfairness of past hurts.
18. I am gonna to try and try again, because the moment I give up, is the moment I fail.
19. It’s a lie to think you’re not good enough. It’s a lie to think you’re not worth anything.
20. What really matters are the lives you touch along the way and how you finish your journey.
21. I have the choice to be angry at God for what i don’t have, or be thankful for what i do have.
22. Keep moving ahead because action creates momentum, which in turn creates unanticipated opportunities.
23. The challenges in our lives are there to strengthen our convictions. They are not there to run us over.
24. God gave you just one mouth but He gave you two ears, so you should listen twice as much as you speak.
25. To wish for change will change nothing. To make the decision to take action right now will change everything!
26. For every disability you have, you are blessed with more than enough abilities to overcome your challenges.
27. I encourage you to accept that you may not be able to see a path right now, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.
28. But there is one thing better than going to heaven and that is to encourage at least one other person to go with me,
29. Having faith, beliefs, and convictions is a great thing, but your life is measured by the actions you take based upon them.
30. Pain is pain. Broken is broken. Fear is the biggest disability of all. It will paralyze you more than being in a wheelchair.
31. Marriage is a long-term commitment. You should only step into that commitment if you truly love the person and want to spend your life with her.
32. Sometimes you may feel like you are just about to realize your goal only to fall short. That is no reason to quit. Defeat happens only to those who refuse to try again.
33. Have you ever felt trapped in circumstances, then discovered that the only trap was your own lack of vision, lack of courage, or failure to see that you had better options?
34. I may have absolutely no control over what happens to us, but we can control how we respond. If we choose the right attitude, we can rise above whatever challenges we face.
35. Those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint (Isaiah 40:31).
36. The greatest rewards come when you give of yourself. It’s about bettering the lives of others, being part of something bigger than yourself, and making a positive difference.
37. If you aren’t where you want to be or you haven’t achieved all you hope to achieve, the reason most likely resides not around you but within you. Take responsibility and then take action.
38. Once you accept that perfection is just a goal, screwing up isn’t so hard to handle. Each misstep is still a step, another lesson learned, another opportunity to get it right the next time.
39. Risk, then, is not just part of life. It is life. The place between your comfort zone and your and your dream is where life takes place. It’s the high-anxiety zone, but it’s also where you discover
    who you are.
40. If I fail, I try again, and again, and again. If YOU fail, are you going to try again? The human spirit can handle much worse than we realize. It matters HOW you are going to FINISH. Are you going to finish strong?
41. We easily become trapped in the ‘someday’ mentality. Someday I’ll have all the money I need to enjoy life. Someday I’ll be able to spent more time with my family. Someday I’ll have time to relax and do what i love doing.
42. Yet I also believe that when you do unto others, blessings come to you as well. So if you don’t have a friend, be a friend. If you are having a bad day, make someone else’s day. If your feelings are hurt, heal those of another.
43. Recognise instant self-gratification for what it is. Resist the temptation to grab for material objects like the perfect house, the coolest clothes or the hottest car. The if I just had X, I would be happy syndrome is a mass delusion.
44. The key is you have to trust that God only has the best in store for you. If God says no to something, He says yes to something even greater. It is when you fully surrender all of your desires to His will that His perfect will is done.
45. To keep moving up, you have to abandon the security of that ledge and reach for another hold. Letting go of that sense of security.. is the challenge. … think of yourself as climbing a ladder. To move to the next rung, you must give up your grip and reach for the next one.
46. We can’t, and we should not, compare sufferings. We come together as a family of God, hand in hand. And then together coming and standing upon the promises of God, knowing that no matter who you are, no matter what you’re going through, that God knows it, He is with you, He is going to pull you through.
47. Life isn’t about having, it’s about being. You could surround yourself with all that money can buy, and you’d still be as miserable as a human can be. I know people with perfect bodies who don’t have half the happiness I’ve found. On my journeys I’ve seen more joy in the slums of Mumbai and the orphanages of Africa than in wealthy gated communities and on sprawling estates worth millions. Why is that? You’ll find contentment when your talents and passion are completely engaged, in full force. Recognise instant self-gratification for what it is. Resist the temptation to grab for material objects like the perfect house, the coolest clothes or the hottest car. The if I just had X, I would be happy syndrome is a mass delusion. When you look for happiness in mere objects, they are never enough. Look around. Look within.

Below is a video presentation with transcript by Nick Vujicic in Serbia (TEDxNoviSad) on how he overcame hopelessness and becoming a miracle in someone else’s life through his disability.

Video Transcript:

Thank you very much.
Guys, my name is Nick Vujicic,
I was born in Australia in 1982,
moved from Australia to California in the year 2006.
And my life story – I’m just thankful
that people have seen my life
on some sort of level – whether it’s just YouTube videos
or seeing pictures of a limbless guy smile.
You know, people always ask me
you know, what happened to you
and how did you overcome what you’ve been through?
The title of the message that I’ve been given
is “Transforming the walls into doors”.
When I speak corporately,
the line that I like to use is
“changing obstacles into opportunities”.
Now, I am very well aware to share with you as well.
I know that there are a billion people going hungry today.
I know that this year, a million people will commit suicide.
That is one every 40 seconds.
I know today there are 120 million slaves
and I’ve met six slaves
and I’ve seen the top of the pyramid as far as business
and met the billionaires.
I’ve met bankers and I’ve also met orphans.
We’re all looking for something.
We’re all looking for hope.
Hope you can’t just have just because you were born with hope.
No, we’re born with pain.
We’re born and live through difficulties.
In our life – my parents always taught me
that even though we don’t know
why I was born this way, that we have a choice.
Either to be angry for what we don’t have
or be thankful for what we do have.
The power of that choice was the first thing
that I had to overcome and decide for myself,
especially in the early years of school.
A lot of kids would come up to me and tease me.
And I have been speaking at 5 congresses,
I’ve met 7 presidents all around the world.
My largest crowd was 110,000.
I have 30 thousand invitations for me to speak.
So wherever I go, I talk about the value of life,
I talk about anti-bullying messages
for the school systems in different nations.
The greatest thing is love.
When we feel like we don’t have enough love
and we don’t have enough hope,
we start losing strength to live.
For me in my life as a child, I had a big wall.
I was surrounded by four walls and a low ceiling of opportunity.
I was set free in so many different ways
and especially surviving from day to day
with my parents who loved me, who encouraged me,
who told me I was beautiful the way that I was
and not to worry about what other people said about me.
I was actually the first special needs child
to be integrated into the mainstream education system
in Australia and I was awarded Young Citizen of the Year in 1990.
And the world is a hurting place and the world needs hope
and world needs love.
Without hope, we feel like, ‘Why are we here?’
Well, brokenness. Here’s mine.
Today, I still have no arms and no legs, but everything’s changed.
Everything.
For me, I was looking for hope and happiness
and I couldn’t see it for many years.
In fact, if this side of the table represents my hope,
truth encourages me to become all that I can be.
But then we have lies, everyday,
coming in our mind, people who discourage us.
You know the people that you have in your life
who, no matter how good of a day you’re having, they’ll bring you down?
Or no matter how bad of a day you’re having, they’ll bring you even lower?
You know what I’m talking about?
Think of the 3 biggest discourages in your life.
They’re not your biggest discourages.
You are.
It only takes 3 seconds for me to tell you something discouraging
but then, you may never forget my words.
I’ve met so many 50-year-old women and 40-year-old women
who still remember what their fathers told them that they wish they’d never heard.
Words are powerful.
And when you hear those words and then your mind starts growing with these lies.
“Nick, you’re not good enough, just give up, you’ll never get a job”,
“You won’t get married, you can’t even hold your wife’s hand”.
“What kind of a father are you gonna be
if you can’t even pick up your kids when they’re crying?”
You’re alone. Sure, your parents hug you.
But their hugs can’t heal you.
Just give up. Just give up. Just give up……
At age 8 I thought that I should commit suicide. Why?
‘Cause I didn’t have hope. I thought I didn’t have hope.
Today you can see that I had hope.
What’s the word, believing in something you do not see? Faith.
Words can only do so much. Hugs can do much more than words,
but when hugs can’t do anything, that’s where faith kicks in.
For me, words and hugs were not enough, but I had no faith.
So I tried to give up.
At age 10, I tried to drown myself in 6 inches, or 15 centimetres of water,
in my home.
I told my dad I just wanted to relax, but really, I wanted to end my life.
I had enough. (Serbian) I had enough.
The first two times I rolled over.
I was trying to work out how much air I hold in my lungs before I let it out.
And the third time, in my mind, knowing that I wanted to get out of here,
because of the bullying in my life, ’cause I was going to be a burden to my parents
and I had nothing to look forward to.
I realized at that moment that if I actually went through with committing suicide,
I would leave a greater burden for my parents than they already had.
There was one thing less hopeful or more burdensome
than having a child without limbs.
What is it? A child without limbs who gives up.
So when I saw in my mind my mom and my dad
and my brother crying at my grave
if I went through with it, that one thought saved me.
If my parents never told me that I was beautiful the way I was.
If my parents never told me that I was special and that I was loved,
I wouldn’t be here today.
So I encourage every single parent
who tries their best to encourage their teenagers,
especially in the West, many teenagers put a ‘do not disturb’ sign on their door.
I’m sure, the conversations all around the world between a parent and a teenager:
How was school? – Fine. – What did you learn? – Nothing. – Did you do your homework? – No.
And that’s the conversation for the day.
And when you try to tell your children that they’re beautiful, they say,
“Of course I’m beautiful, I’m your son, your daughter, of course you’re gonna say that”.
But they’re right.
Every single human being has value
and my value is not determined on how I look
or what job I have, or where I’m from, where I was born,
how much money, all that stuff is nothing.
So many teenagers, you know, tease each other
for how we look and I tell the teenagers,
“Do you think that I’m cool enough to be your friend?”
And they’re like, “Yeah, of course”.
I say, “But I have no arms and no legs”, and they say, “Doesn’t matter.”
And I say, “Really? So it doesn’t matter that I have no arms and no legs?”
They say it doesn’t matter.
I say then, “Actually, if it doesn’t matter, then why do we kill each other with our words,
if it actually doesn’t matter?”
Why do we look [at] ourselves in the mirror and see ugly instead of valuable?
I want to ask you today, what are you looking for?
If I gave you a billion dollars, would you be happy?
If you gave me a billion dollars, I’d be very happy.
But then if my mom dies tonight, am I happy? No.
With all the money in the world, I’d never be happy.
Right? ‘Cause money is something that cannot heal the soul.
So many teenagers are looking for love which, love does heal the soul,
love does complete the soul.
But even sex before marriage, I was a virgin before I got married.
Yeah, I’ve got a gorgeous wife, we’re pregnant with our first son.
And I don’t need hands to hold her hand.
I only want to hold her heart.
And you know, how am I going to hug my kid?
So many kids that come up to me, it’s amazing.
They put their hands behind their back and hug me with their neck.
And I’ve realized in life, even the worst parts of my life
can be turned into good.
And even more special.
So many teenagers are looking for love so they are going to go do this,
and go do that and have sex before marriage.
For me, sex out of marriage is like a 5 dollar Gucci watch.
Sex within marriage and having sex with someone
who loves you, who is committed to you for the rest of your life,
going to be the mother or father of your kids, that’s what love is.
You can sleep with as many people as you like
but never know for sure, “Do they love me?”
Love is a life-long commitment. You see, there are choices in life.
And we’re looking. I want to ask you, what are you looking for?
If I can just drunk, why not, man? I’ll only live once.
Well, if that’s the way you believe, great.
But for me, I’m a greedy man, I don’t want to live for 90 years.
I want to live for billions of years.
And I know that every day, my choices will affect this life,
other people’s life and my eternal life.
You gotta come to the truth of knowing who you are and why you’re here.
William Barkley, he said, the greatest two days in anyone’s life —
they day you were born, and the day you knew why.
So, “Uh, you’re ugly”.
No, I’m beautiful the way that I am
and if you can’t believe that for yourself
so many girls, specially, stay with their emotionally abusive boyfriends
because, “If I break up with him, then who is going to want me? ”
See, we all want love.
That’s why we do what we do sometimes.
To get into the crowd — I am going to swear, I am going to be cool —
that’s what this world is —
“I want to look like her, if I was taller, shorter, smarter, more popular”
whatever you want, it’s not enough.
Until you find the truth.
I’m wonderfully and faithfully made.
There is a greater purpose for my life.
I am here for a reason.
Sure, I didn’t get a miracle.
Yeah, I believe in a God who can do miracles
and I have a pair of shoes in my closet.
Why? I’ve seen blind people seeing and deaf people hearing.
That’s fine if you don’t believe me, I’ve got it on camera.
But I realized something.
If God doesn’t change my circumstances
he’s gonna use my life to be a miracle for someone else.
When you don’t get a miracle, you can still be a miracle for someone else.
I’m gonna close off with this beautiful story.
I was in Southern California —
I have 2 organizations,
a non-profit organization and I have a for-profit.
I probably spoke between years 2007 and 2010, 1000 times, 600 flights.
And I’ve spoken to 4.5 million people face to face
and in the last 48 hours here in Serbia, we’ve reached 5 million through media.
So, we have the heart of people to love others.
We want people to love each other, love yourself
dream big and never give up.
We are all looking for hope, aren’t we?
What are you looking for?
Money, drugs, sex, alcohol, pornography, fame, fortune.
Never satisfies.
It’s never enough.
But I have come to peace, so check this out.
When I was 24 years old, 5-6 years ago, I was in California.
And I’d never met anybody else like me.
When I was 10 years old, I wished I would have met somebody like me.
Never did, didn’t get that miracle.
But at 24, in Califronia, I saw a little boy
with no arms and no legs, 19 months old, just like me.
I knew he was going to be bullied,
he was going to go through depression, he would feel alone,
I knew that he would get worried if he’s ever going to have a girlfriend
and so on, and so on.
I got the father to bring him up on stage in front of 2000 people.
And everyone was crying.
And it was a materialization of when you don’t get a miracle,
you can be a miracle for someone else.
I am not a superhero, I go through ups and downs, so do you.
But take one day at a time
and if you haven’t found that piece of knowing who you are and why you’re here
and where you’re going when you’re not here.
For me, I want you to know that’s how I’ve overcome.
I don’t have any walls.
My book’s called “Life without limits” and what will be, will be.
I’ve acted in a short film, 30 awards.
I got best actor in a short film.
I’ve done my own music video.
I’ve written 2 books, first book — 30 languages, 800,000 copies.
I’m 29 and we know a billion people know who I am.
Not to bring out my pride or my name or my status,
trust me, I’m just like you.
But I hope you are inspired to know
that if I can dream big, so can you.
There are no walls.
Find your peace and you’ll make your walls, doors.
Thank you so much.
Related:
There Is Hope – Nick Vujicic