Jim Valvano Quotes

Oprah is signed on to help, and a lot of celebrity friends have agreed to help me raise money for Make-A-Wish. We want to make the world a better place for innocent children. I cried my heart out when my father died from cancer. I wish I was smarter, wiser like a doctor, to save these children from dying.

For me, it's always easy and great to be connected to St. Jude.

When I ask people to give, I can't be on television if they don't; I can't help people, if I don't - I mean, it takes money.

I would love to start a cancer organization.

I just love kids. As a kid, I grew up in a poor country with a poor family that had nothing. I loved anyone who could come into my life, in from the outside, and give me advice that could help me succeed. I believe that there are a lot of people who came into my life that made me Dikembe Mutombo.

Connecting with the kids is a great joy for me. I love meeting them backstage or at a signing event. I am overwhelmed when I meet kids who struggle with terminal illnesses.

I'm not playing 'Survivor' when someone I love has cancer.

As long as you understand that you find happiness through family, friends and love, then money is just a nice bonus.

I didn't want readers to think I was asking to be praised for taking care of my wife while she was ill. Lots of people are heroic, more heroic than I was, when faced with the suffering of someone they love.

Cancer is messy and scary. You throw everything at it, but don't forget to throw love at it. It turns out that might be the best weapon of all.

To be poor does not mean you lack the means to extend charity to another. You may lack money or food, but you have the gift of friendship to overwhelm the loneliness that grips the lives of so many.

I run a charity. If my name pops up in your call ID, chances are I'm about to ask you for something - money, free ad space, your first born. So it is probably no surprise that people often don't take my calls.

One of the most important responsibilities in the Christian life is to care about others, smile at them, and be a friend to the friendless.

I say to myself that I shall try to make my life like an open fireplace, so that people may be warmed and cheered by it and so go out themselves to warm and cheer.

Cancer is a growth hormone for empathy, and empathy makes us useful to each other in ways we were not, could not have been, before.

There's a long life ahead of you and it's going to be beautiful, as long as you keep loving and hugging each other.

What do most people say on their deathbed? They don't say, 'I wish I'd made more money.' What they say is, 'I wish I'd spent more time with my family and done more for society or my community.'

I like to try to give something back to the community because I feel fortunate for how I was raised and how my life turned out. Each year, with the help of my brother, Grant, we run a charity golf tournament to raise money for the Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy.

Well, I've known Elizabeth almost all of her life and almost all of my life. And I love her with all of my heart and she's always been there for me. She's a wonderful, wonderful dame. She's a great lady.

I know the game wasn't a classic, but the night was about more than that-it was about bringing back the memories and raising money for former heroes who have now fallen on hard times.

It's amazing how people will give when you don't ask. Many of them send money because they believe in the message.

I would love to have had much more money so that I could be a philanthropist.

The most valuable thing that anyone will ever give you is their time. Not their money. Remember that.

After Sandy hit, my wife and I saw pictures of the devastation following the hurricane in the news. We immediately wanted to find a way to assist those in need.

I love to give. I've been a giver all my life.