Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.
I was actually valedictorian of my class.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; . . . who at best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.
Every year, I think of Worlds as the big meet, but now, it's the Olympics. I'm blessed to even have the opportunity to think about it and work for it.
When you feel like you are performing at your best, it's a beautiful feeling.
Always let your reach exceed your grasp.
I put up some great numbers.
I knew if I went home with the gold medal knowing that I could do better, I wasn't going to be very satisfied.
I would have done higher than that... I would have set it higher.
The average person puts only 25% of his energy and ability into his work. The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity, and stands on its head for those few and far between souls who devote 100%.
It was always about being first, about winning. There were no prizes for second place. My mother and father said, 'Do whatever you want, as long as you're the best at it.'
For me, I just focus on playing, playing at a high level. And when you can't do that any longer, you've got to get off the train.
Not everybody can do everything at a high level.
I never competed against athletes. I competed against perfection.
Andre Sa is playing close to his potential - maybe even above it.
Raise your ambition beyond where you're capable of now. There's nothing about my hometown that said I'd be working with Fortune 50 CEO's, Olympians, at the highest level.
I always want to be the best at whatever I'm attempting to do.
If you're going to reach for it, reach all the way for it. Albums like 'Purple Rain' and 'Thriller' and those kind of records, you had to reach far above the din of cynicism and modern living to get to that place, against all the odds.
Everybody was at the top of their game at that point, in the early '70s.
I don't know how you keep the world record holder off your team.
I had very little going for me as a kid except for the fact that I had demanding parents and was very good at filling out bubbles on standardized tests. I went to the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University because I did well on the SAT. I went to Exeter because I did well on the SAT.
If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters. Excellence is not an exception, it is a prevailing attitude.
You can be world champion, but ranked No 6 in the world, with there being four champions.
My parents were hugely supportive like that. I was always the best - it's so embarrassing, isn't it? I was always the best at everything.
I've been promoted, relegated, won big trophies, gone months without scoring, played for my country at World Cups, been bought, sold, loaned, and called 'a freak.'
