But I never really thought that I would be extraordinarily successful at skating, it's just something that happened, you know.

And so figure skating was a great vehicle for me to kind of be competitive at something, without having to be big.

I had a ninth grade teacher who told me I was much smarter and much better than I was allowing myself to be.

What was really funny is that as I got older all those guys who called me a sissy in junior high school wanted me to be their best friend because they wanted to meet all the girls that I knew in figure skating.

I started skating and I kind of liked it because I could run circles around the guys that wouldn't pick me to play baseball.

Always try to maintain complete tolerance and always make an effort to give people more than they expect.

Half of figure skating is opinion, convincing judges.

Male figure skating is different than female figure skating; we're not America's sweetheart.

Adversity, and perseverance and all these things can shape you. They can give you a value and a self-esteem that is priceless.

So as an amateur Olympic competitor I loved criticism, because it made me better. But now as a professional I don't really know how to channel it or where to take it, so I don't take it quite as well.

But I never really thought that I would be extraordinarily successful at skating, it's just something that happened, you know.

I was nine-years-old when I first put on skates.

Everything that I've ever been able to accomplish in skating and in life has come out of adversity and perseverance.

The only disability in life is a bad attitude.

I'm very accessible. I don't get into this ego thing.

Most other competitions are individual achievements, but the Olympic Games is something that belongs to everybody.

I just try to touch people's hearts in a way through skating, so they're not just witnessing a performance, they're feeling a performance and they're a part of it.

Rationality is not one of this industry's attributes.

I was more interested in skating and the girls and traveling than I was in calculus.

When you turn professional, you become an entertainer, and like every other entertainer, you don't want to get a bad review.

When you're expected to win and you have the press saying that you are going to win the Olympic gold medal, and you're the only sure thing in the Olympics, it can undermine your confidence.

I didn't want to be the sissy figure skater, you know.

The high road is always respected. Honesty and integrity are always rewarded.

Without strength and courage it's really hard to perform at the highest levels of international figure skating, because you're alone on the ice and you only have seven minutes over two nights to prove yourself.

Fame is a very confusing thing, because you are recognized by a lot of people that you've never seen before, and they're at a great advantage.

That's what makes the Ryder Cup in golf so much better than the Masters or the U.S. Open. To be a part of something that is not about personal achievement, but about representing everyone and sharing it with the whole country, it's wonderful.

And the fact that I liked to show off and be the center of attention really lends itself to figure skating very well.

From the fall of October, 1980 to March, 1984 I never lost a competition.

I don't think most teachers realize how much impact they have.

I graduated a the top of my class in the '84 Olympic Games; I won a gold medal.

Male figure skating is different than female figure skating were not Americas sweetheart.

Without strength and courage its really hard to perform at the highest levels of international figure skating because youre alone on the ice and you only have seven minutes over two nights to prove yourself.

Half of figure skating is opinion convincing judges.

I must stress here the point that I appreciate clarity, order, meaning, structure, rationality: they are necessary to whatever provisional stability we have, and they can be the agents of gradual and successful change.

The successful establishment of a buffer zone around Fort Carson will provide an example for other bases around the country as we seek to protect the training mission of the U.S. military while preserving critical habitats on our ranges.

I'll tell you what I did need to learn was tolerance, and I think I've been actually given a daily opportunity to practice that, and it's - it's - and I know that that sounds almost like a backhanded slap, and it is in a way because I haven't been successful at it every day.

I am always successful in my work.

A good title is the title of a successful book.

When I meet successful people I ask 100 questions as to what they attribute their success to. It is usually the same: persistence, hard work and hiring good people.

I don't know if there is any one secret to successful writing, but one important step is to move beyond imitation and discover what you can write that no one else can - that is, find out who you are and write that in an appropriate narrative and style.

Belief in oneself is one of the most important bricks in building any successful venture.

To judge between good or bad, between successful and unsuccessful would take the eye of a God.

If those committed to the quest fail, they will be forgiven. When lost, they will find another way. The moral imperative of humanism is the endeavor alone, whether successful or not, provided the effort is honorable and failure memorable.

The successful man will profit from his mistakes and try again in a different way.

I don't think there has been any increase in sophistication in the audience. When people are aware of a concept that's easy to understand, and there's an actor who will attract them to the theater and it's a movie that's funny three-quarters of the time, it will be successful.

The magic formula that successful businesses have discovered is to treat customers like guests and employees like people.

Every successful revolution puts on in time the robes of the tyrant it has deposed.

And in Iraq we tried to implement the same policy that was so successful in Saudi Arabia, but Saddam Hussein didn't buy. When the economic hit men fail in this scenario, the next step is what we call the jackals.

The secret of the truly successful, I believe, is that they learned very early in life how not to be busy. They saw through that adage, repeated to me so often in childhood, that anything worth doing is worth doing well.