I spent Christmas and the next thirty days in the hospital.

Rumors of sneezing, kissing, tears, sweat, and saliva spreading AIDS caused people to panic.

My name is Ryan White. I am sixteen years old. I have hemophilia, and I have AIDS.

Because of the lack of education on AIDS, discrimination, fear, panic, and lies surrounded me.

I believe in myself as I look forward to graduating from Hamilton Heights High School in 1991.

Listening to medical facts was not enough. People wanted one hundred percent guarantees.

I was labeled a troublemaker, my mom an unfit mother, and I was not welcome anywhere.

Most recently my battle has been against AIDS and the discrimination surrounding it.

On December 17, 1984, I had surgery to remove two inches of my left lung due to pneumonia. After two hours of surgery the doctors told my mother I had AIDS.

Financial hardships were rough on us, even though Mom had a good job at G.M.

I came face to face with death at thirteen years old.

What is a miracle if not the manifestation of light where darkness is expected?

One thing you have to realize from now on is that it doesn't matter if this is a dream or not. Survival depends on what you do, not what you think.

For a long time the only time I felt beautiful-in the sense of being complete as a woman as a human being and even female-was when I was singing.

It should be remembered that the foundation of the social contract is property; and its first condition, that every one should be maintained in the peaceful possession of what belongs to him.

There is no more sure tie between friends than when they are united in their objects and wishes.

It's easy to endure adversity -- if it happens to someone else.

Don't swear at your past; you couldn't existed without it! It is the only path to reach today and tomorrow! Remember that past is a great teacher who thought us all we know now!

I thought that my life would be spent working in a bookstore, teaching community college, and making music in my spare time that no one would be willing to listen to.

This is a bond nothing can ever loosen. What I have lost: what I possess forever.

In New York, I like it when you can get bagels at 3 in the morning.