I had already been into my professional career for six years and had not won an individual gold medal at the Olympics. There was a tremendous amount of pressure going into 1996 to get it done.

As strong as my legs are, it is my mind that has made me a champion.

One of the main techniques I used was focusing on the goal and visualising myself competing in the race before the race started.

The only one who can beat me is me.

You learn as much from those who have failed as from those who have succeeded.

There's a complete difference between training for a specific event and goal and just training.

You can't control what the other athlete is going to do; you can't control anything except for your competition and how you execute the race or how you execute the task.

(Natural Talent + Opportunity) Hard Work = Success

The basis of self-discipline: Don't allow the edges to blur.

A good mentor offers directions and driving tips from the back seat. You still have to drive the car.

They think because I'm small, they can do what they want to do to me. But I'm not weak. If I lower my shoulder and they lower they're shoulder, they're going to go down.

You just have to say to yourself, "I am not willing to accept anything less than what I deserve! I am smart! I am Beautiful! I am a good woman and I deserve to be happy!" It all starts with you.

Three things will make you more powerful: the power of your non-judgmental love, your ability to forgive the unforgivable, and a heart that cares.

As if the night had said to me, ‘You are the night and the night alone understands you and enfolds you in its arms’ One with the shadows. Without nightmare. An inexplicable peace.

Any man, you'll soon learn, has an insurmountable need to blame someone else when he is made to look a fool.

How astonishing it is that language can almost mean, and frightening that it does not quite.

You can make a lot of mistakes in just one lifetime. (I'll Be Waiting)

It's a kind of liberation to break free in language, if you can break free, but it's also a confinement, because form confines you - whatever the form.

If I had Aladdin's lamp and the usual three wishes, the first would always be, 'Give me the first day of June.

When I write, I try to represent the ordinary person in the pew, which means that, ironically, I'm qualified to write about prayer by being unqualified!

The knowledge that you can handle anything that comes your way is the key to allowing yourself to take risks. ... security is not having things; it's handling things.