To be a well-rounded person and know what's going on in the world around you, to have a perspective outside of your sport, is important for every athlete. I'm blessed that our parents gave us that.

Some people say I have attitude - maybe I do... but I think you have to. You have to believe in yourself when no one else does - that makes you a winner right there.

I don't focus on what I'm up against. I focus on my goals and I try to ignore the rest.

Just believe in yourself. Even if you don't, pretend that you do and, at some point, you will.

My motto is: I'm alive, so that means I can do anything.

In my mind, I'm always the best. If I walk out on the court (and) I think the next person is better, I've already lost.

Of course, I want to be number one. But being happy and healthy is the most important thing.

Tennis is mostly mental. Of course, you must have a lot of physical skill, but you can't play tennis well and not be a good thinker. You win or lose the match before you even go out there.

When you lose, you're more motivated. When you win, you fail to see your mistakes and probably no one can tell you anything.

In the sports arena I would say there is nothing like training and preparation. You have to train your mind as much as your body.

If I cared deeply about what people thought of me, I probably would have never made it out of Compton, California.

Breathe in, breathe out. Over and over again.Just to prove a broken heart can't really kill you.

Risk always brings its own rewards: the exhilaration of breaking through of getting to the other side the relief of a conflict healed the clarity when a paradox dissolves.

The pursuit of knowledge is more valuable than its possession.

I want a book to contain a world - indeed the world. Writing is my main means of engagement with the world and I want the scars of that engagement to be left in the language.

When I was a teenager in Iceland people would throw rocks and shout abuse at me because they thought I was weird. I never got that in London no matter what I wore.

Do things that will get people asking questions, the answer to which is the Gospel.

I know so much about men because I went to night school.

Your body is just a vessel for who you are as a person. And until you work on what you give back to the world, it doesn't matter what you look like on the outside.

If you have no eyes, do not walk blindly; take a staff in your hand. If you have no staff of insight, do not walk without a guide.

Having now reached a point where danger might be reasonably apprehended from strolling war parties of Indians, spies were kept in advance and strict diligence observed in the duty of sentinels.