Most of us who aspire to be tops in our fields don't really consider the amount of work required to stay tops.

Being champion is all well and good, but you can't eat a crown.

In the field of sports you are more or less accepted for what you do rather than what you are.

No matter what accomplishments you make, somebody helped you.

Shaking hands with the Queen of England was a long way from being forced to sit in the colored section of the bus going into downtown Wilmington, North Carolina.

In sports, you simply aren't considered a real champion until you have defended your title successfully. Winning it once can be a fluke; winning it twice proves you are the best.

I hope that I have accomplished just one thing: that I have been a credit to tennis and my country.

I don't want to be put on a pedestal. I just want to be reasonably successful and live a normal life with all the conveniences to make it so.

I was nervous and confident at the same, nervous about going out there in front of all those people, with so much at stake, and confident that I was going to go out there and win.

Winning once can be a fluke; winning twice proves you are the best.

I think I've already got the main thing I've always wanted, which is to be somebody, to have an identify. I'm Althea Gibson, the tennis champion. I hope it makes me happy.

Ben laughed. "You think all religions are scams, don't you?""Yes, I suppose I do, " Epstein said. "But the religions are mostly scamming themselves. That they scam others is usually a side-effect.

Just as music is noise that makes sense, a painting is colour that makes sense, so a story is life that makes sense.

Its the journey that counts, not the arrival.

You can judge a leader by the size of the problem he tackles... Other people can cope with the waves, it's his job to watch the tide.

A big part of letting go is recognizing when it is time to stay in a situation and when it is time to move on.

It's very flattering when you look into the crowd and people have made an effort and dressed in your style.

I think that we're all totally isolated beings and always will be.

The audacity to love. Do you know what a gift that is?

I took two years away from making films to write a novel.

You learn a lot from your customers, and when your customers are also your owners, you learn even more.