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

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 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 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.

A merciful heart beats contently stronger than many vengeful ones

The trick was not to stifle the emotions, but to control them. Love, anger, grief – all were weapons in their way, but they needed to be kept in check.

The more I love, the more flowers bloom in my heart.

paying taxes is a cheap price for a quiet conscience—much cheaper than actually having to get involved in the lives of their fellow citizens.

Having the positive belief that it will all be O.K. just means that you hustle and make it work because failure is not even an option in your own mind.

When there's a teacher who embodies presence, then it seems to come for a while through that opening. The teacher is an opening to presence.

Justice required resort to law and that could be a fickle mistress, subject always to the whims and prejudices of those who administered the laws.

The scars will take me far, they always do.

I only grow hair in places that men like.

People don't want to pay 8 or 9 dollars to go see a problem that they have in their life, on screen. They pay to get away from that. That's why they watch soap operas