My Story Quotes

“Music is the unspoken language that can convey feelings more accurately than talking ever could.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“Later, there were times when I was angry with myself for succumbing to that fear. But those with shattered souls find it very difficult to speak.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“I also believe in faith. Faith in a loving and kind heavenly Father who will always care about me. Faith that my worth will never be diminished. Faith that God knows how I feel and that I can depend on him to help me through it all. I believe that God not only suffered for me, but that He will make everything up to me in His own time and His own way. That gives me the peace I need to feel like justice will win out in the end”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“Life is a journey for us all. We all face trials. We all have ups and downs. All of us are human. But we are also the masters of our fate. We are the ones who decide how we are going to react to life.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“When faced with pain and evil, we have to make a choice.
We can choose to be taken by the evil.
Or we can try to embrace the good.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“You be happy, Elizabeth. Just be happy. If you go and feel sorry for yourself, or if you dwell on what has happened, if you hold on to your pain, that is allowing him to steal more of your life away. So don't you do that! Don't you let him! There is no way he deserves that. Not one more second of your life. You keep every second for yourself. You keep them and be happy. God will take care of the rest.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“As of this writing, I am twenty-five years old. I have been alive for 307 months. Nine of those months were pretty terrible. But 298 of those months have been very good. I have been happy. I have been very blessed. Who knows how many more months I have to live? But even if I died tomorrow, nine out of 307 seems like pretty good odds.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“Knowing it can always get worse, I try to be grateful for whatever good I have.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“But the human spirit is resilient. God made us so. He gave us the ability to forgive. To leave our past behind. To look forward instead of back.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“Then, while the other members of my family were waiting in the living room, my mom pulled me aside at the top of the stairs.

"Before it gets too crazy, I need to tell you something," she said...

"Elizabeth, what this man has done is terrible. There aren't any words that are strong enough to describe how wicked and evil he is! He has taken nine months of your life that you will never get back again. But the best punishment you could ever give him is to be happy. To move forward with your life. To do exactly what you want. Because, yes, this will probably go to trial and some kind of sentencing will be given to him and that wicked woman. But even if that's true, you may never feel like justice has been served or that true restitution has been made.

"But you don't need to worry about that. At the end of the day, God is our ultimate judge. He will make up to you every pain and loss that you have suffered. And if it turns out that these wicked people are not punished here on Earth, it doesn't matter. His punishments are just. You don't ever have to worry. You don't ever have to even think about them again. ...

“You be happy, Elizabeth. Just be happy. If you go and feel sorry for yourself, or if you dwell on what has happened, if you hold on to your pain, that is allowing him to steal more of your life away. So don't you do that! Don't you let him! There is no way he deserves that. Not one more second of your life. You keep every second for yourself. You keep them and be happy. God will take care of the rest.”

It's been ten years since my mother said those words.

The years have proved she was right.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“I have learned an important lesson. Yes, God can make some good come from evil. But even He, in all His majesty, won’t make the evil go away. Men are free. He won’t control them. There is wickedness in this world.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“You be happy, Elizabeth. Just be happy. If you go and feel sorry for yourself, or if you dwell on what has happened, if you hold on to your pain, that is allowing him to steal more of your life away. So don't you do that! Don't you let him! There is no way that he deserves that. Not one more second of your life. You keep every second for yourself. You keep them and be happy. God will take care of the rest.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“When we are faced with a challenge, it is very easy to be mad or upset. But when we have passed our great test, we are then given opportunities to reach out to other people. We are able to effect change in a way that otherwise we would not be able to.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“Elizabeth, what this man has done is terrible. There aren't any words that are strong enough to describe how wicked and evil he is! He has taken nine months of your life that you will never get back again. But the best punishment you could ever give him is to be happy. To move forward with your life. To do exactly what you want. Because, yes, this will probably go to trial and some kind of sentencing will be given to him and that wicked woman. But even if that's true, you may never feel like justice has been served or that true restitution has been made...
You be happy, Elizabeth. Just be happy. If you go and feel sorry for yourself, or if you dwell on what has happened, if you hold on to your pain, that is allowing him to steal more of your life away. So don't you do that! Don't you let him! There is no way that he deserves that. Not one more second of your life. You keep every second for yourself. You keep them and be happy...”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“Ultimately, to get better, I simply made a choice.”
― Elizabeth Smart with Chris Stewart, My Story

“I am alive, but I’m not living, I remember thinking as I walked. I am the living dead. I am nothing but a shell.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“I don’t know what the definition of despair is, but if it is feeling as if your life is over, as there’s no point to continue because no matter what happens, you will never be accepted or happy again, then despair is what I felt.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“I didn’t have the cable around my ankle, and I was grateful for that, but that wasn’t enough to make me happy. I was still welded to Mitchell. I was anything but free. His words were stronger to me than any chains or cable ever could be.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“Here I was, a little girl, in the middle of the night, being taken from my bed, from my own home, from what I thought was the safest place in the entire world. It was an unimaginable intrusion!”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“Over the next nine months, Brian David Mitchell would rape me every day, sometimes multiple times a day. He would torture me and brutalize me in ways that are impossible to describe, would starve me and manipulate me like I was an animal. Many times I would think, okay, this is the bottom. Things couldn’t get any worse. But whenever I began to think that way, I would quickly find out that I was wrong.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“Imagine you have a beautiful crystal vase. Then imagine that you accidentally knock it off the table and it shatters into pieces on the floor. We all understand it isn’t the vase’s fault that it was pushed off the table and shattered. But still, it is broken. It is worthless. You don’t want it anymore, so you sweep it up and throw away the pieces. That is how I felt. It wasn’t my fault, but I was broken. No one would want me anymore.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“thought. He didn’t get Olivia! He’s been captured. He’s is prison right now.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“I didn't understand most of what he was saying. I should have had to understand what he was saying. I was still so young. And I certainly should not have had to learn it this way!”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“. . when we have passed our great test, we are then given opportunities to reach out to other people. We are able to effect change in a way that otherwise we wouldn't have been able to.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story

“But Mitchell’s face filled my mind like a monster in a dream. I heard his voice. It was the devil.”
― Elizabeth Smart, My Story