Tom Brady

I think the running game is very important to every offense. Being balanced is extremely important. There's times where you have to throw the ball. You could be down late in the game, you need to come back; you have to be able to pass it when they know you're passing it.

If someone lies, well, you had a choice to trust that person or not. I think the way my father raised me, well, he trusted everybody. And that worked for him.

When you're one of the leaders of the team, there are no days off.

I don't want to wake up and be bored. That's probably my greatest fear is to have nothing to do. What better job is there than to play quarterback for an NFL team, and certainly one that I've been on for a long time and had success with? I don't plan on giving it up any time soon.

We all have experiences in our lives that change us, and we all learn from people, like my dad, but at the end of the day, it's only us. And we're only responsible to make ourselves happy.

I like playing. I wouldn't be a good coach. I don't have the patience to be a coach.

Probably my first couple years in the league, I started paying more attention to what I was wearing. Once I got a few bucks in my pocket and I could afford some nice things, and you get to go, 'OK, let's try some of these things.' And once you try something you like, you probably don't change it much.

You look at another team's style and how they do it, and you just want to understand how they're doing it and see if you can learn something and maybe implement it into what your team does.

To me, if you're trying to impress a girl, get a date, they're gonna like that more because you're a confident guy. That's what it comes down to.

I think a lot of things that are the norm, that are very systematic, don't work.

If you like it you should enjoy it! Moderation in everything. If there's things you really love, you should enjoy. You get one life, so you should enjoy it.

If you're a quarterback, you want everything on your shoulders. You want to be the one to make the decisions.

I don't go to bed at 1 A.M. and wake up at 5 A.M. and say, 'Let's see if I can get this done today.'

I don't really care how the Patriots are perceived, truthfully. I really don't. I really don't. Look, if you're a fan of our team, you root for us, you believe in our team, and you believe in what we're trying to accomplish. If you're not a fan of us, you have a different opinion.

I try to not eat as much sugar, but it's so hard in our American diet to do that... It's hard to completely avoid.

I like Tom Ford a lot because it's so classic and has great quality. I wear a lot of Rag & Bone.

I don't think any country is perfect. It's our responsibility to do the best we can do to change the things we don't like. I think that's part of social responsibility, and everybody is going to do that in their own way.

Every action has a consequence. It may be good for strengthening. And I have no doubt that lifting a lot of weights can get you stronger. I just don't know if lifting stronger weights can keep you healthy, or it can keep you doing your job better, especially for a pro athlete.

You have to believe in your process. You have to believe in the things that you are doing to help the team win. I think you have to take the good with the bad.

During the season, most of my time to unwind is in my car ride home. When I get home, it's being with my kids.

Everyone is different. Everyone has different teams they've played on, coaches they've played for.

All parents are concerned about their children's well-being. As a parent of three kids, I'm very concerned about their well-being.

The only thing I ever wanted to be was a professional football player.

I started wearing Ugg when I was, like, 13 or 14, in high school, and my mom got me a pair for Christmas one year.

I've always been privileged to play for Coach Belichick, who I've always said is the best coach in the history of the league.

I've had just about everything punched. I've had things grabbed that just shouldn't be grapped.

I have hobbies. I like being active. I like to surf a lot, play a little bit of golf.

Sometimes, getting up in the morning and brushing your teeth is the hardest part of the day - it all just hurts.

There's not much time to unwind, but you know what, it's because I love what I do. I look forward to the season. I look forward to playing games. It doesn't ever feel like work.

All I do is work out. Oh my God! Half my life is spent in a gym somewhere, sweating.

I think, in politics, half the people are gonna like you, and half the people are not gonna like you, no matter what you do or what you say... It's like there are no right answers. If there were, everyone would choose the right answers. They're all opinions.

After the first day of practice, there's not one guy who's playing at 100 percent or who feels great. Sometimes, getting up in the morning and brushing your teeth is the hardest part of the day - it just hurts.

I could talk food all day. I love good food.

Life is not living in the suburbs with a white picket fence. That's not life. Somehow our American culture has made it out that that's what life needs to be - and that if it's not that, it's all screwed up. It's not.

I would love to encourage all my teammates to eat the best way they possibly can. High school athletes. Now, that's not the way our food system in America is set up. It's very different. They have a food pyramid, and I disagree with that. I disagree with a lot of things that people tell you to do.

I've had a lot of ridiculous haircuts.

So many guys are so conservative with their hair, and I always joke with all my buddies when they mess with me, and I'll say, 'That's right, keep the same haircut for ten years.' How fun is that?

I think the great part about what I do is that there's a scoreboard. At the end of every week, you know how you did. You know how well you prepared. You know whether you executed your game plan. There's a tangible score.

The biggest issue is muscle pliability. That's what I think the biggest secret to me is. What is muscle pliability? Muscle pliability is keeping your muscles long and soft.

I'm much more comfortable and confident running out on the field in front of 70,000 people instead of standing in front of a camera trying to say some lines. The people who do that as a profession are very talented because it's certainly not easy.

Everyone does things differently on offense. Everyone's goal is to score points.

It's a frustrating game because the situations so drastically change at different times over the course of the week, the game, the season. It feels like brain surgery at times.

People want to go out and travel around and meet cool people. I could just go live in Vermont, but is that what I really want?

To me, football is so much about mental toughness, it's digging deep, it's doing whatever you need to do to help a team win and that comes in a lot of shapes and forms.

I don't think anything about a personal legacy. I mean, those words would never come out of my mouth unless I just repeated them. Those things have never been important to me.

I'd be so bored if I wasn't going out there, knowing that I could still do it. So, I'm going to work hard to be ready to go, and I still plan on playing for a long time.

Mentally, the only players who survive in the pros are the ones able to manage all their responsibilities. Everybody struggles in different ways.

My job is to play quarterback, and I'm going to do that the best way I know how, because I owe that to my teammates regardless of who is out there on the field with me.

I'm a pretty casual dresser. At home, it's probably whatever is functional to relax in, whether it's a pair of sweats or a pair of jeans.

Fortunately for a quarterback, you can play for a long time because you don't get hit very often.

I think I've really stepped outside the box in the way I try to train, eat, hydrate, the cognitive brain games I play on a daily or weekly basis to try to build up some durability within my body, within my brain, to be able to go out there and play at a high level at age 38.

I try to encourage all my teammates, and I sure hope that some day all athletes - my kids, high school kids - get the same level of care I get. Because you can play for a long period of time without having knee replacements, without having all the major head trauma that people are dealing with.

Because my career is so important, I think I make a lot of - I wouldn't call them sacrifices, but just concessions for my job. I love what I do, and I want to do it for a long time.

As a part of the NFL, things change every year.

I always try to do as much as I can do. I'm never a person that does not enough, because I'd regret not doing enough and think I probably could have done more. I probably go too far and have to reel myself back in, which works in some things, and other things it doesn't work.

If I feel anxious every time someone is staring at me, well, I can't control what they stare at, but my reaction is, I'm just not going to go outside the house. I'm going to stay in and chill. And when I do go out, I understand what comes along with that.

Chiropractic just makes you feel so much better. When I walk out of the clinic I feel like Im about three inches taller and everythings in place. And as long as I see the chiropractor I feel Im one step ahead of the game.

I don't think a lot of people know personally who I am.

As for hobbies, I don't really read or watch TV.

I like to have fun all the time, even if I'm working.

I think hygiene is so important.

I see so many guys, really athletic guys, wearing pleats and I just shake my head. Like, Tiger Woods used to wear pleated pants! I'm like, 'C'mon, Tiger!'

Sleep is all about recovering. So if you're not sleeping, you're not recovering. And if you're going to break your body down a lot, you better find ways to build it back up. And the only way to do that is get a lot of sleep. So for me, I go to bed at like 8:30, 9:00. As soon as I put my kids to bed. Because I'm up at 5:30 the next day.

My wife and I are very affectionate.

I've been so blessed to play for the greatest coach at a time when our organization has done incredible things. I've played with the best teammates. Playing for Mr. Kraft and what his influence on the team has been.

I have a memory, and I can just eliminate mistakes when they come up because I've already made them.

Football is a contact sport and there's a lot that goes into it. But I have committed myself for a long time to doing it, and because I love doing it so much I want to make that commitment.

I think my style is probably more of a classic look.

I don't want to say anything negative about anybody or anything or anybody's political beliefs. I've never done that. I've never tried to get involved in those things.

There's nothing more comfortable or leisurely than having a pair of Ugg slippers on in the house.

Maybe some people can wake up and play PlayStation all day, but that's never been me.

I don't think the ebbs and flows - get in great shape and then get out of shape and then see if you can get back into shape - is a good thing. So I prefer to keep my arm always ready to go.

My personal feelings are my personal feelings. I don't want to express them with anyone except for a very few people. It doesn't do any good. It really doesn't.

The true competitors, though, are the ones who always play to win.

You need to think outside the box. You need to think differently if you want to sustain what, for me, is my peak performance: the very best that I can achieve as an athlete every day.

I'm not really concerned with portraying this tough warrior - I mean, that's part of my job and I take that very seriously. But I don't have anything to hide, and I'm not concerned with what people think.

Nothing surprises me anymore in the NFL.

Men always want and love when women wear tight and fitted clothing, right? And you're like, 'Wow, she looks so beautiful.' And then you have men who dress like slobs, and you're like, 'What's the deal with these big and baggy suits.' It's pretty ridiculous.

When you have two busy kids running around the house, returning e-mails is a task, let alone surfing the web.

I never had any coffee or anything like that. I just never tried it.

I just love working hard. I love being part of a team; I love working toward a common goal.

You never get over losses. I've never gotten over one loss I've had in my career. They always stick with me.

A lot of times I find that people who are blessed with the most talent don't ever develop that attitude, and the ones who aren't blessed in that way are the most competitive and have the biggest heart.

I think any man who lets a woman pick what he should wear... I mean, you gotta draw the line somewhere as a man. I see these guys, 'My wife told me to wear this!' And I just shake my head.

Every man should know, if you're comfortable and you like it, you should do it. Everyone always worries about what the girls think, what the guys think. If you like it, do it.

Sometimes, getting up in the morning and brishing your teath is the hardest part of the day - it all just hurts.

My mom was a great tennis player, and I remember being six or seven years old watching Steffi Graf and Monica Seles in Wimbledon in my house. I've always been a tennis fan.

You're not going to see my sense of humor on the football field. That's not a place for me to joke around.

I'm a pretty good winner. I'm a terrible loser. And I rub it in pretty good when I win.

I really focus on my jeans and sweaters for them to fit really well. There was a time that wasn't the case.

Coaching wouldn't be for me. No, certainly not.

For people who may think they know, or have snippets of who I am, you can attack that person. That's part of being a public figure.

If I have something to say, I want it to be meaningful.

When I'm out on the football field, I have so much confidence in what I'm doing.

I don't believe you could be a 39-year-old quarterback in the NFL and eat cheeseburgers every day. I want to be able to do what I love to do for a long time.

I'm not a person who defends myself very often. I kind of let my actions speak for me.

I think I have a certain respect for people, you know. And I guess a lot of times I expect that respect to go both ways.

As you get older, you have more responsibilities; you have more commitments, more events, kids, you're married now. You still have all the things that you've had, plus you just keep adding.

I have more suits than days of the year that I get to wear them.

In Boston, they love their sports celebrities. And it's great.