Chasing records doesn't keep me on my bike. Happiness does.

Pain is temporary. Quitting lasts forever.

Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.

I didn't invent the culture, but I didn't try to stop the culture.

I take nothing for granted. I now have only good days, or great days.

My cocktail, so to speak, was only EPO, but not a lot, transfusions and testosterone.

One of the redeeming things about being an athlete is redefining what is humanly possible.

If you worried about falling off the bike, you'd never get on.

I figure the faster I pedal, the faster I can retire.

Portland, Oregon won't build a mile of road without a mile of bike path. You can commute there, even with that weather, all the time.

Anything is possible, but you have to believe and you have to fight.

I've been as bad an influence on American literature as anyone I can think of.

The language of the universe comes not from the voice but from the primordial silence. You can understand it by enhancing your feelings.

Latin life is rich with warmth, family values and history. I want to bring that beauty into American homes.

Seeking knowledge is like opening doors. And I know the doors are everywhere.

War is sweet for those who haven't experienced it.

You're not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the abilities you have.

If I think about the writers I love or might be influenced by, I can't write at all, so I pretend there aren't any.

Democracy doesn't recognize east or west; democracy is simply people's will. Therefore, I do not acknowledge that there are various models of democracy; there is just democracy itself.

It matters that you don't just give up.

If I were to give off-the-cuff advice to anyone trying to institute change, I would say, "How clear is the metaphor?"