I think I dreamed about competing at the Olympics, maybe hoping to win a gold medal. Not that I ever thought that I would, but I dreamed about it.

I was just ice skating. I had no concept of that. In those days you couldn't see the judges. I was this little person on the ice and they were just people that would stand around the boards.

I was a bratty little sister. I was the youngest of three, and I often felt as though I didn't fit in.

To be the world's best, you have to beat the world's best.

If you are a complete perfectionist, then the truth is that this ice skating business will drive you a little crazy!

If I'm on skates, I feel at home no matter what I'm doing. If they wanted me to sing and dance I think I could do it just becauseI was on skates. When I'm not on skates, though, I feel very strange.

I wouldn't say that there's ever been an Olympic champion that didn't deserve to win an Olympic Gold Medal.

Every time you go out on the ice, there are slight flaws. You can always think of something you should have done better. These are the things you must work on.

I hated to read. My mother could not get me to read. I’m going through the same thing with my daughter now. I love to read now, but I don’t remember reading.

It's different today than it was then. In those days we were strictly amateurs. If I had wanted to stay in for the '80 Olympics, my parents couldn't have afforded it.

There were no competitions on television. The first skating competition I ever remember seeing on television was the 1968 Olympics when Peggy Fleming won.

Those three divine attributes of a perfect woman: goodness, beauty and wealth.

In the aftermath of September 11th, it is critical to secure our borders.

Become a Buddha? The mind can't do it. The body can't do it. Only what can't become a Buddha becomes a Buddha.

I've been very active in Missouri.

A lot of my work comes from a place of despair or fear. I often write in order to gain some sort of control over aspects of my life or the world that seem too dark to look at directly.

You cant please all the people all the time.

I've got a few guitars that I like. The trouble with fame and riches is that you have more than one guitar.

The body is the instrument of our hold on the world.

You can't make somebody understand something if their salary depends upon them not understanding it.

I can't play anything until I find something that connects to my life, something I can carry as my secret map or code for the character.