Ben Carson on Life

"I sensed I was about to take one of the most important risks of my life. But I felt so right that I didn't hesitate."

"I believe God has a specific purpose for me – and for every other person to whom he gives the gift of life."

"I can provide one living example of someone who made it and who came from what we now call a disadvantaged background: me."

"The Bible is a seemingly inexhaustible source of practical wisdom that could serve as a valuable resource for everyday living."

"I thank God for all the people whom God sent into my life, the people who gave their best so that I could learn to give my best."

"It is important to call on God to intervene in our life, especially when we reach the point where we ourselves have become helpless."

"If someone in going to die anyway without an operation, then you have nothing to lose by trying."

"If things do go badly, will I wonder for the rest of my life what I might have done to help?"

"One of the great truths of life: I did not do it alone. I had help along the way."

"God has opened many doors of opportunity throughout my lifetime, but I believe the greatest of those doors was allowing me to be born in the United States of America."

"She was not a person who would allow the system to dictate her life."

"The truth is that everything is risky; life itself is risky."

"Although we all make mistakes in life, the problems occur when we try to hide our mistakes, to cover them up rather than to learn from them and allow other people to learn from them."

"Why should I give someone else such power over my life?"

"God doesn't make mistakes. So if I'm supposed to die, there's a very good reason for it. I'm not going to question him. I'm just going to enjoy all these beautiful things that God created."

"We are still able to grow as long as we are alive."

"I'm probably never going to be politically correct because I'm not a politician. I don't want to be a politician. Because politicians do what is politically expedient — I want to do what's right."

"If your priority is to look good in front of people, your life will take a different direction than if your priority is to use the talents that God has given you to make a positive difference in the world."

"Every human being experiences risks; some of the risks are common to all humans, and some are unique to the life each of us has been given to live. But I know for certain that risk – both it's shadow and its reality – has shaped my life inside and out."

"Odds that you will die at some point in your life: 1 in 1. Thus, you might say the greatest, most significant, and universal risk factor in death is being born. This implies that it really isn't very helpful to approach the subject of risk by focusing on how we might die; rather, it's far wise to consider how we should live and what risk we will live with."