Mayor Koch, of New York, was the first public figure to give me support.

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.

When I got untethered from the comfort of religion, it wasn't a loss of faith for me, it was a discovery of Self.

Your life is far too valuable to be wasted on the life that everyone else is choosing.

The sea was my first home...Now that I had nowhere else to go, this was the last place I felt safe.

I needed, I needed...you." "Don't tell me you need me." "But I can't help it. I do

In levying taxes and in shearing sheep, it is well to stop when you get down to the skin.

While thoughts exist, words are alive and literature becomes an escape, not from, but into living.

I can't stay engaged for years with a book unless it has feelings. It can't be an idea for me - it has to be a felt thing.

History is more interesting than politics.

I can't manage without homeopathy. In fact, I never go anywhere without homeopathic remedies. I often make use of them.

I was, I remember, I still remember when the first time I pointed the telescope at the sky and I saw Saturn with the rings. It was a beautiful image.