Nerves of Steel Quotes

Pressure is the biggest single factor in Test cricket.

Presidents with strong nerves are decisive. They don't balk at unpopular decisions. They are willing to make people angry. Bush had strong nerves. Clinton, who passed up a chance to eliminate Osama bin Laden, did not. Obama is a people pleaser, a trait not normally associated with nerves of steel.

At the Olympics, you have almost nothing to lose, but at the Olympic trials, you have everything to lose. You have the last four years of your life to lose.

The excitement does not change. After 40 years in the business, I still find the show to be a magical moment - the performance anxiety, the litmus test.

No matter how tired you get, when you get in that ring and hear that crowd road, everything will go away.

As a high wire walker, I do not allow myself to 'leave the wire' during a performance.

I have a good record in shoot-outs. In such moments, I'm always confident of making at least a couple of stops; I always feel the taker is under more strain. Worrying is the kicker's job, as he's expected to score, while I have nothing to lose.

I've always enjoyed the emotion of being out there in the last minute of a game or the last couple minutes down by a goal. I think a lot of guys tend to thrive in that situation and I prefer to be out there.

First time I walked out on the Opry stage, Vince Gill was there. He kind of 'daddied' me through the whole thing. My knees were knocking. I walked out there, and I was literally shaking. They say it's the spirits or the ghosts. And out of respect for that whole establishment, I was really really nervous.

I'm a pretty laid-back person but when I first played on TV against Jimmy White at the Masters it was daunting. The more times you play you get used to it and you eventually come to love it.

There is nothing like going on a stage. You are in the saddle, and you've got to ride that horse, and there's nothing more thrilling and exhilarating.

Playing at Wembley wasn't easy.

My microphone went out in the 2009 Tony Awards. It was my big moment, and I was so excited to perform and lead the cast; I sang 'Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat.' Every actor dreams of standing front and center on the Tony Awards, and I start to sing, and you hear this crackling. I had no idea what to do - were they going to stop a live telecast?

Learning how to compete is one of the most important things that an athlete can do. You can train as well as you possibly can and go compete and completely choke.

The pressure makes me more intent about each shot. Pressure on the last few holes makes me play better.

I love, love, love to rehearse, but when you're rehearsing and then you go do it at night, it's a very weird thing, because you're incorporating all these new things.

I felt the weight of the past at the beginning of my career of singer.

I just think I play better in the greater scenarios. I just get motivated. I like the big crowds on the centre courts.

Performing live in front of an audience is such a matter of will - all of those things you can do just fine in your basement, suddenly you have to do them in front of hundreds or thousands of people, and it becomes a different matter entirely.

When you play a big server, you are under enormous pressure on your own serve because you cannot afford to be broken. That causes a lot of players to panic: you see double faults or tentative serves. It's all in the mind, but it still happens.

Players are under such pressure in crucial moments, especially at the highest level with what is on the line.

A show can be completely dead before you even get on the air. I've been privy to a couple of those.

There were so many emotions on 'Idol' with nervousness and pressure, but in good ways.

In the end, success in a shoot-out is being able to perform a particular skill under pressure.

Walking the runway with Alexander McQueen, I really had to dig deep. You're with Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell. I was the first person out on the runway, but I thought, 'I have done the Olympics, I can do this.'