Half of figure skating is opinion, convincing judges.

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.

Ideological warriors whether from the Left or the Right are bad news for the bench. They tend to make law, not interpret law. And that's not what any of us should want from our judges.

Absent scandal, a federal judge can serve for decades on the bench, underscoring the importance of appointing judges who have a proper understanding of their constitutional role.

Although the most acute judges of the witches and even the witches themselves, were convinced of the guilt of witchery, the guilt nevertheless was non-existent. It is thus with all guilt.

The Middle East is literally going up in flames, as is California, and Katrina's problems haven't been solved, and Congress' response is to criticize Federal judges.

The world at large does not judge us by who we are and what we know; it judges us by what we have.

Unfortunately, what many people forget is that judges are just lawyers in robes.

Now, I - for several years while I was researching this book, I felt quite obsessed by thoughts about sentencing, punishment, how judges arrive at their decisions.

Marriage has been defined by every legislature that has ever sat in the United States from every State, now 50 States, the same way, but now we have unelected judges altering and changing that fundamental institution.

It is necessary to keep one's compass in one's eyes and not in the hand, for the hands execute, but the eye judges.

If we believe in our current penal process, then the penalties imposed by judges and juries should be the only sanctions for one's crime, not the invisible sanctions of the legislature.

I love judges, and I love courts. They are my ideals, that typify on earth what we shall meet hereafter in heaven under a just God.

The Violence Against Women Act is so important. It provides money to train the cop on the beat, to train the judges that this is a new day, that we won't tolerate this violence and to know how to deal with it.

The politics of judges is getting to be red hot.

I also read modern novels - I have just had to read 60 as I am one of the judges for the Orange Fiction Prize.

A key to the mentality of the left is that it judges itself by its best intentions, and judges its opponents - America chief among them - by their worst deeds.

Half of figure skating is opinion, convincing judges.