I didn't only have a perceptual problem, I was also so nervous and so upset. The process just didn't work. I lost enthusiasm for school and I flunked second grade. The teachers said I was lazy.

It caused more problems as a young kid, because the simple process of perceiving words on a piece of paper was hard for me. Many people think dyslexic people see things backwards. They don't see things backwards.

The biggest problem with dyslexic kids is not the perceptual problem, it is their perception of themselves. That was my biggest problem.

If you are a kid, reading is really important stuff.

I didn't only have a perceptual problem, I was also so nervous and so upset. The process just didn't work. I lost enthusiasm for school and I flunked second grade. The teachers said I was lazy.

First of all, I try to be a positive role model.

I thought everybody else was doing much better than I was.

I always felt that my greatest asset was not my physical ability, it was my mental ability.

The truth is everybody does it from time to time. People dial telephone numbers and they get a wrong number only to find that they've read the last two digits backwards. Everybody does it, but dyslexics have this tendency to a higher degree.

If you're asking your kids to exercise, then you better do it, too. Practice what you preach.

If I wasn't dyslexic, I probably wouldn't have won the Games. If I had been a better reader, then that would have come easily, sports would have come easily... and I never would have realized that the way you get ahead in life is hard work.

If you are dyslexic, your eyes work fine, your brain works fine, but there is a little short circuit in the wire that goes between the eye and the brain. Reading is not a fluid process.

When the time comes for your brain to process the information, the second word comes up faster than the first one. So when it's in your head, all of a sudden, it comes out backwards and you think of the word backwards.

Our mission for younger people is to do our best to make exercise cool, hip - the thing to do.

We put so much pressure on kids to excel in school at such a young age.

I still have nightmares about taking tests.

Nobody has milked one performance better than me - and I'm damned proud of it.

I learned that the only way you are going to get anywhere in life is to work hard at it. Whether you're a musician, a writer, an athlete or a businessman, there is no getting around it. If you do, you'll win - if you don't, you won't.

If you're going to dedicate every second to winning the decathlon, what are you doing wasting your time in bed?

Start early and begin raising the bar throughout the day.

I was growing up in the 50's and 60's. Back then they didn't even know what dyslexia was.

I spent twelve years training for a career that was over in a week. Joe Namath spent one week training for a career that lasted twelve years.

Waving the flag at the 1976 Olympics wasn't my idea. It was too much apple pie and ice cream. Not that I don't love my country, but I felt it was my victory up there, I put all the time into it.

The biggest problem with dyslexic kids is not the perceptual problem it is their perception of themselves.That was my biggest problem.

You have to train your mind like you train your body.

The best thanks we could offer those who went before and raised the Irish working class from their knees was to press forward with determination and enthusiasm towards the ultimate goal of their efforts, a Co-operative Commonwealth for Ireland.

I thought in terms of the enthusiasm of doing it. I didn't think about whether I was ready.

My strength is my enthusiasm.

I think the biggest difficulty is that when I'm here in America, there's a necessity of using English, so I really have a great sense of really wanting to learn, but unfortunately when I head back to Japan, the necessity vanishes and so does my enthusiasm about learning.

There is a real magic in enthusiasm. It spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.

I wouldn't want the pressure of a Six Feet Under or the pressure of improvising like Curb Your Enthusiasm.

If you have enthusiasm, you have a very dynamic, effective companion to travel with you on the road to Somewhere.

To fail is a natural consequence of trying, To succeed takes time and prolonged effort in the face of unfriendly odds. To think it will be any other way, no matter what you do, is to invite yourself to be hurt and to limit your enthusiasm for trying again.

Enthusiasm is that temper of the mind in which the imagination has got the better of the judgment.

Accordingly the Northern races of Europe found their inspiration in the Bible; and the enthusiasm for it has not yet quite faded away.

Martyrdom was the price of enthusiasm for acting.

It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something that makes a life worth living.

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.

The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which mean never losing your enthusiasm.

As always, the British especially shudder at the latest American vulgarity, and then they embrace it with enthusiasm two years later.

It is unfortunate, considering that enthusiasm moves the world, that so few enthusiasts can be trusted to speak the truth.

One must be convinced to convince, to have enthusiasm to stimulate the others.

Music is at once the product of feeling and knowledge, for it requires from its disciples, composers and performers alike, not only talent and enthusiasm, but also that knowledge and perception which are the result of protracted study and reflection.

A few minutes ago every tree was excited, bowing to the roaring storm, waving, swirling, tossing their branches in glorious enthusiasm like worship. But though to the outer ear these trees are now silent, their songs never cease.

The Department of Cell Biology at Johns Hopkins was founded and directed by Tom Pollard, an engaging young scientist with remarkable energy and enthusiasm.

I didn't only have a perceptual problem, I was also so nervous and so upset. The process just didn't work. I lost enthusiasm for school and I flunked second grade. The teachers said I was lazy.

Go into something because you really like it, and then do it with a drive and enthusiasm so that it isn't work.

There is an eloquence in true enthusiasm.

Faked enthusiasm is worse than bad acting - it is bad acting with the intent to deceive.