There is... nothing greater than touching the shore after crossing some great body of water knowing that I've done it with my own two arms and legs.

I am overwhelmed by the strength of my body and the power of my mind. For one moment, just one second, I feel immortal.

This journey has always been about reaching your own other shore no matter what it is, and that dream continues.

You're never too old to chase your dream.

If you want to touch the other shore badly enough, barring an impossible situation, you will. If your desire is diluted for any reason, you'll never make it.

I wanted to teach myself some life lessons at the age of 60 and one of them was that you don't give up.

A lot of athletes have this sort of invincibility: [The jellyfish] should worry about me. I don't worry about them. I'll just swim right through them.

I am willing to put myself through anything; temporary pain or discomfort means nothing to me as long as I can see that the experience will take me to a new level.

Swimming is probably the ultimate of burnout sports.

The spirit is larger than the body. The body is pathetic compared to what we have inside us

But for each of us, isn't life about determining your own finish line?

Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud. There is always something(All The King's Men)

They looked great, you know the drawings of the guys playing looked great and bits of string around their necks. So it didn't seem to be that difficult a thing to do, or that inaccessible.

To play for a draw (at any rate with White) is to some degree a crime against chess.

Why don't you ever use your strength on me?" she said. Because love means renouncing strength," said Franz softly.

A sight to dream of, not to tell!

My coach, Liang Chow, had one rule while I was training for the 2008 Olympics: no skiing. I could do anything I wanted outside the gym, he said, except ski.

Always give an autograph when somebody asks you.

Dancing is at once rational & healthful: it gives animal spirits; it is the natural amusement of young people, & such it has been from the days of Moses.