Itzhak Perlman Quotes

I'm not saying I look cool, but every single time I go onstage, it is a fail if I don't feel like I'm going to pass out at least twice.

I get nervous for any competition. I also get really competitive.

The first game is always the most difficult, for the nerves you have before you begin to play.

Before normal games I was always relaxed. But at the World Cup for Italy my heartbeat was always going a lot quicker.

Every match that I have, I always feel like I'm more nervous than the last one.

I perform better under pressure. If I go out there, and I'm not nervous, and I'm too relaxed, I don't like that vibe. I like big matches. I like pressure situations.

I am extremely nervous before anything. People who say they aren't nervous are telling a white lie. Nerves get you going, as you are playing for so much at the highest level.

I've never felt as nervous as I did before a track meet - literally, stomach going crazy - 'cause it was just so difficult.

I might be nervous off the court, being booed. But being on the court, it's my comfort zone. It's basketball. It's what I do. I'm not losing sleep over it.

Any match you face, you know, you can be nervous.

I've been in a talent show, yeah. They are terrifying. The most nerve-wracking experience of your life, I'd say.

As a competitor, you have to learn pretty quickly how to deal with pressure.

Even if we're in fifth place in September, I get butterflies before a game. I'm nervous.

For some reason, when I get to the 200m, I'm always a little bit nervous.

The pressure was huge going into London, definitely.

Sometimes when you go into the match, you want it so badly. I think sometimes is tricky. It makes you a little bit, like, tense and nervous.

It's impossible, when one team and one player is afraid of something that might happen in a match, they will not play well, they will not have 100 per cent confidence.

When I walk out on to the court and everyone is staring, sometimes I wonder how my legs will carry me out there. That's forgotten as soon as I start playing.

I still feel pressure - I'm sure everyone who plays feels pressure - but I don't feel it as much now as when I was younger.

A bit of nervousness is essential as in a way it helps you deliver your best.

I like it when my heart's pounding and I'm sweating and I'm nervous.

You can sit and imagine what it is like to go into a hostile stadium, or what it's like to play for the AFC championship, but you never know until you do it.

Nerves can happen to even the best of us. It's not easy to compete.

Fighting at home does bring pressure - of course it does. But I've always thrived on that.

After all those years of automatic success, you don't get nervous any more. It's really necessary to be nervous and be a little bit frightened. It pumps the adrenalin into you and you really get down there and try.