Claire Gilbert Quotes (8 Quotes)

It was like traveling with a rock star. When I see her stand up to talk in front of hundreds of people and see the self-assurance she has, it's hard not to be proud of her.

They were like, 'Why was a double on the race course' and we said, 'We're blind,'

I was in a world where I was a beginner at everything. Everyday things that I'd been doing all of my life were all of a sudden things I was new at trying to do and I wasn't good at them, ... The gift of rowing, for me, was that was one thing in my life at that moment that I was competent at.

Two weeks after I left there, I had my first class to come get my new dog, ... Literally, the first walk with my first guide dog, Webster, was an epiphany for me. I realized in that instant, walking at a pace that felt like normal that no matter what I wanted to accomplish in my life, I could do it with my dog by my side.

For me and for John, it really kind of opened the minds of people from all over world to open their boathouses to people who are blind, ... I've gained so much (from rowing), I'd love to see people all over the world get the same pleasure and opportunity I had.

She came to my house one day and said, 'I'm taking you rowing. You don't need to see to row. Let's just go and do this,'

A lot of people get around with canes and dogs, ... I've always been a dog lover, and to pick between an inanimate object like a cane and a dog, there was no question in my mind.

That was the most down period in my life, ... I was afraid of everything. I didn't think I could do anything anymore, and I basically just stayed at home. Literally, I woke up one day and thought, 'OK, what's my life going to be like 5, 10, 30 years out from now, if I keep doing this' And I thought, 'Oh my God, I'm going to have a long, boring life. I've got to do something to change this.'