Brian O'Driscoll Quotes

They see themselves as athletes and only athletes.

Athletics is in my blood.

I get paid to play football and show everything I've got.

I had dreams of being a professional rugby player.

When I was playing I never wished I was doing anything else. I think being a professional athlete is the finest thing a man can do.

You would not want me on your football team.

But I like to think an athlete is an athlete.

For me, I've lived a life as an athlete.

Sport is not just about entertainment. It is equally about winning and losing, pooling and galvanising the energy of the youth, upgrading people's physical fitness and mental prowess.

Athletes are very cool to me.

My whole career I'm used to playing a lot of games.

I really appreciate the sport background because the structure and the discipline that that gives a person is incredible, and it just carries with you wherever you go.

I played football all my life throughout high school and ran track.

Football rewards the guys that are in great condition.

I was the sports captain in school. I've done everything - from javelin to discus to basketball to judo.

You're only out there for 90 minutes, and you have to give it everything you've got. It's a game of football, at the end of the day.

I've played for 15 years and played in five major tournaments. I know what it gives me in terms of the joy, in terms of the love for the game. But I'm done with it.

I was one of those athletic African players.

Soccer was probably the most fun game I've played because I never walked away feeling like I had a bad game. If you play a position in soccer where you can out-hustle or out-work or out-prepare somebody, it is a lot easier to walk away from the game and say, I gave it my all. I could always try. I could always hustle.

For a while, I loved everything about it, every single aspect of what was supposed to be a job. The training - I loved to train. I loved the traveling. I dug being in the locker room. I didn't mind icing and heat. I dug it. It was like, 'Cool. I'd rather do this than anything.'

Sports is my life, and I live for it.

I had a fantastic career. I loved being a professional athlete.

If I am on the pitch there is a lot of energy in my body.

I've devoted my life to football.

I have great admiration for athletes. They are just like actors in a lot of ways. They have tremendous pressures and conflicts. They have to compete, and they can't stay home just because they have a head cold.