Top 95 Quotes & Sayings by Katie Piper

There was a time when I'd resigned myself to never having my own family, so to fall pregnant with Belle was overwhelming.

Before I was attacked, I would write about the future - just goals, lists and plans. I'd scribble without depth or substance about the things I wanted to do with my life, whether short or long-term, and how I thought my future would be: a successful career in TV and modelling, marriage, a family.

Not a day goes past when I don't think how grateful I am I survived, that I recovered and that I feel like a young woman again.

At home around my husband, I totally forget I'm burnt and how I look.

Writing my first book, 'Beautiful,' was the time that I was able to write the truth of it - that I was despairing at times, that I got depressed and felt like I couldn't cope. Writing became about being honest.

I don't want people to feel sorry for me or pity me - I want people to know that what got me through was human spirit and everyone has that in them.

I am so much more than what happened to me. I'm a mother and a businesswoman; I run a charity that supports others overcoming adversity; and, most importantly, I'm happy.

It's so easy to butt into a conversation and offer your own thoughts or opinions, but try not to interrupt. Instead, focus on what the other person is saying, think twice and be the person that listens. It's so much more valuable than constantly talking.

I enjoy looking good and love experimenting with my hair colour. I've just gone from blonde to brunette, and keep looking in the mirror and not recognising myself!

I'm self-sufficient, but it's brilliant to have people in your life that you love, who love you and are important to you.

I like to tell myself people look at me for all sorts of reasons. Maybe they're staring because they're shocked or maybe they recognise me from TV, or maybe they just like my shoes - especially women, because we all look at each other's clothes and hair.

The world is more competitive and social media drives this. It's woman against woman when it comes to appearance, possessions and friendship circles.

My biggest source of inspiration is my mum.

Once my sister was older, she and I would do lots of hobbies together. We took dance lessons and put on shows at home; tap dancing on the granite fireplace, which must have mortified my dad.

It makes me very happy that people's perceptions of what's beautiful and attractive are gradually changing.

But I like a challenge, anything I can't do it inspires me to learn it.

I don't have the answer to finding the balance because I think, well, maybe successful people don't switch off.

The important things for me are stability, consistency and love, and I have that through my family, so that's a great place to be.

I see it as someone who's been burned doesn't have to be put in this box where they can't be glamorous - I try and live that vision all the time and push those stereotypes away. That's all you can do.

None of my ambitions were serious as a girl. One week I wanted to be a lawyer, the next a binman.

I still have difficult days when I lose hours to anxiety, feeling my throat swell and my mind race with paranoid thoughts. But - thanks in part to ongoing therapy - they're happening less and less.

I did weightlifting and bodyweight-focused exercises such as chin-ups, pull-ups and press-ups with my personal trainer.

Everyone contacts me with the same questions: how can I be more confident? How can I get over my anxiety? And, without being preachy, I do believe that diet is so key.

At 24 I was a wannabe. I was not a 'former TV presenter' as everybody says - I was a young girl living on a wish, appearing on the roulette channel at 1 am and selling cordless kettles on Channel 953.

There are so many things that can happen to us in life where you think, 'I can't cope. I can't deal with it,' but you probably can.

I've come to the conclusion that we're all responsible for our own happiness and the happiness in your life depends on the quality of your thoughts. I'm a big believer in positive thinking.

I've tried to stop reading comments online because if you believe everything, it makes you feel like rubbish.

I was standing in the street with people walking past me and I could feel my face evaporating. I thought I was on fire as the acid ate at my skin.

I don't want to be an ambassador for too many charities, because it's a far stronger message to be a person with a disfigurement going about their life doing everyday things.

I don't think many people stare at people in wheelchairs because we see it regularly. I suppose if you see more in the media it will take away the curiosity.

I was writing for myself, not to be published. I was writing diaries, even letters, to myself or to anyone I was angry at. Sometimes they weren't to a person, they were just to the universe - a bit like penning daydreams or isolated thoughts.

I was the victim of a violent attack in March 2008. I had sulphuric acid thrown in my face and was severely injured leaving me with loss of site in my eye and full thickness burns on my neck, chest, face and hands.

What we put in our bodies can make us feel depressed or anxious, and it's the same for fitness, I think it all joins up in this big circle.

My biggest hope for the future is that we're successful in delivering the treatment to people through the charity and that burns just become something that happens in people's lives but doesn't make them a misfit in society and exclude them and stop all their dreams and ambitions.

I've had lots of opportunities to do things I'm passionate about and the things I care about and I feel that I can live in a world that doesn't really accept people that are different happily.

There's nothing worse than saying the past is in the past, then dragging it into your kid's life.

Anywhere, you're going to get people who are ignorant or rude but it's not the whole of society. I don't think my life is doomed because I look like this.

It's one thing for your mum to tell you that you look OK, but she's your mum and she has to tell you you're beautiful. It's not the same as a stranger telling you.

I think the loveliest time in our house is probably a Sunday, because usually I don't work, my husband doesn't work, Belle's at home and we're all together enjoying each other's company.

My book 'Things Get Better' has normalised the idea that it's OK to fail and it's OK to seek professional help from psychologists.

My life is written about as though I've had this idyllic ending. But a marriage is something you have to work at.

You are always bigger than the problem, the problem can never be bigger than you.

My younger self wouldn't recognise me at all. She would think I was quite serious, organised and practical, but I've had to be to run the foundation.

My recovery has been backwards, forwards, up and down - and still is.

The main reason I started The Katie Piper Foundation was because I had treatment abroad that I wanted other burns survivors in this country to have access to.

It's true that looks do matter, but they won't give you a long, successful career or a happy marriage.

People always go on about me being an inspiration, which is nice. But it's an unrealistic pedestal to be put on. There are other people out there who have had things happen to them, not just me.

I was quite lonely because I didn't have a boyfriend or many friends, so I started spending my weekends doing races. Then I progressed to a half-marathon and I actually enjoyed it!

My perfect night in would be lots of bad food like biscuits and chocolate, and possibly an ice cold fizzy drink.

I have managed to conquer my fear of fire one fish at a time. I've gone from eating sushi to prawns, to baking sea bass fillets.

I never watch anything live, I record all my programmes and have a real binge on a Friday night and watch them all.

I have learnt from Simon Cowell that anything is possible if you work hard enough and also that acts of kindness or giving somebody a few minutes of your time can have a massive impact on their life and their future.

I really cherish my family life, because at one point I never thought I'd have it.

I don't have to pretend to be someone I'm not and I think talking so openly about my story gave me acceptance that it's ok to be me.

I feel like I've lived two or three completely different lives. At 33, I'm quite reflective and have the perspective you get in your old age when you have been through the losses of life.

My dad and sister are vegetarian and I was brought up as one, but I ate a bit of fish and meat. After the attack my oesophagus melted and I had to have plastic stents put into my throat to rebuild it, so I couldn't swallow and I was fed via a high-calorie drip through my stomach.

What is kindness? For me, it is about treating people how you would want to be treated – but, with so many of us living out our lives on social media, it can be harder and harder to show compassion to those around us.

I have an older brother and younger sister and for the first few years I was quite a tomboy. We lived in a small village in Hampshire and my brother and I would climb trees and make dens.

If I'm thinking or feeling something, I have to record it somewhere. If I don't, I worry the thought will be lost and I'll never get it back again. I never self-edit and I don't write in one place or in a special book.

I think the most hectic time in my house is about six o'clock in the morning, our sausage dog starts howling and barking and scratching to wake us all up - no alarms needed.