I was introverted, shy. But if you win a lot you need to be extroverted, or they'll think you're arrogant.

It's typical of Italian culture that we only start to feel emotional about something when we have the possibility to see it in front of us. By February, Italy will have Olympic fever.

I really lack the words to compliment myself today.

I was introverted, shy. But if you win a lot you need to be extroverted, or they'll think you're arrogant.

All the people know Tomba, but not the real Alberto.

Enter with the torch in the stadium. 80,000 people screaming. I was waiting downstairs for the start for 10 hours; I was so tired with the torch. I give the torch to the combined ski cross country that they win gold in Lillehammer in 1994.

I am a beast!

I never took banned substances, but I have been courted by doctors who wanted to improve my blood in the laboratory. My mother always put them on a flight.

Somebody ask me, 'Alberto, why you not race in Torino?' I finished my career here in 1998, the 15 of March which was my last victory.

My message hasn't changed from day one.

I think one reason for a successful marriage is laughter. I think laughter gets you through the rough moments in a marriage.

The sun rose on the flawless brimming sea into a sky all brazen all one brightening for gods immortal and for mortal men on plowlands kind with grain.

The mere existence of 'Buffy' proves the declinists wrong about one thing: Hollywood commercialism can produce great art. Complex and evolving characters. Playful language. Joy and sorrow, pathos and elation. Episodes that dare to be different - to tell stories in silence or in song. Big themes and terrible choices.

We thought it would be great to see if you could put pop music back into musical theater.

I look at composers and conductors, anybody involved in music or writing or art in general; they got more done as they got older. If I can, I'll be one of those people because what I do is my passion.

I get pretty focused when I start working on something. And I drink a lot of water, way more than most people.

The drive for happiness is vital; it's what keeps us in motion.

When you are satisfied, you are successful. For that's all there is to success is satisfaction.

I still believe nonfiction is the most important literature to come out of the second half of the 20th century.

Now and then, someone would accuse me of being evil - of letting people destroy themselves while I watched, just so I could film them and tape-record them. But I didn't think of myself as evil - just realistic.

An unexamined life is not worth living.

It feels like the more I'm out there in the public eye, the more criticism I get. You need to have confidence - that's what it takes to walk out there and sing a song in front of a huge group of people.

I like actors who, when you see them on screen, you sense a person, not just an actor.

I like my customer to be fierce.

Everyone can have their heart broken. Even if you know the relationship isn't working, it's still sad. Even in a bad relationship, they're part of your life for a long time, and saying goodbye to that can be difficult.

People have expectations of me but I'm not a magician.

I think you need a really strong businessperson running the state, a person who's used to turning negatives into positives, which is what happens in business.

Well-timed silence hath more eloquence than speech.

I'd have to say I've become more aware of my communal responsibility.

I've always liked the electric guitar better. Even though the acoustic can be a very sexy and mysterious instrument, I can go to way more places with an electric.

I grew up listening to Barney Kessel and Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, guys with blues backgrounds.

I'd never read 'Prince Caspian'. I watched it and loved that film. Everybody was talking about its lack of success; its relative success in comparison to the other film. It's a great film. It deserved to do a lot better than it did. It's very difficult to make a film that will match up to the first.

When you're the best, and you know you're the best, and your contemporaries know you're the best, that's a terrific edge.