Haile Gebrselassie Quotes

I grew up in the countryside, and I was obsessed with horses and wildlife.

When my parents went off to Knoxville to work, I lived with my father's mother. She was strict - the kind who starched and ironed dresses. I had to sit more than I played. Oh, I was miserable. I liked being out with the animals. I'd come in the house with my hair pulled out, sash off the dress, dirty as heck. I was always getting spanked.

I was born in South Carolina. On my dad's farm, I didn't have much. I'm just a poor kid who worked in a produce market.

When you grow up on a farm, you grow up fast.

My father was a disciplinarian. He had this cane and he would spare no one if found at fault. Unlike Babita, I was not physically strong and couldn't cope with the training. So I got the most beatings.

I live in the middle of country so I walk a lot.

When we were on the farm, we were isolated, not just by geography but by the primitive living conditions: no electricity, no running water and, of course, no computer, no phone.

I'm happy living in the countryside. We are 30 minutes away from Milan, so I can drive in for dinner and drive out. It's not a question of living in the country or in the city, it's really a question of living in a tight, close-knit clan that makes the difference.

If you grow up with a wrestling coach, you learn differently. If you were late, everything was about push-ups and laps around the gym. I once said, 'Am I on a wrestling team or a damn track team?' That resulted in me running for the entire practice. It gives you a certain mentality.

I grew up in the countryside, in literally the middle of nowhere. We had one neighbor and a lot of sheep.

Country life is different from city life, but I think it was good for me. Working on the farm, I got a balance in my life.

My work ethic is, I think, from my farm life.

In my early years, I would travel 56 km. from home to the training institute and back every single day.

People tell me how great it must have been to ride horses and stuff. Well, do it for two days straight on dusty days when the cows and horses were really tired.

There's not a lot to do in a small town, but i grew up on a cattle farm... some people would say there's nothing to do on a cattle farm, but I'd say there's everything to do.

You chastise children when they are bad, as my parents did me. I'm not opposed to smacking. It is to be used occasionally.

Environment does shape you. My environment, in a pit family, in a pit village, with nine kids in total.

Am I happiest on the farm or out in the middle? I am a cricketer, but the farm is a very special place and I absolutely love being in the countryside and getting away from the bubble. I like to think I'm a farmer, but there's so much experience that goes into that.

I look forward the day that I could work on my farm, create music, write books, and be with the wife and kids around the clock - and live a normal life.

I lived across from a cornfield when I was growing up.

I got a lot of whoopings back in the day. I was a very curious kid.

My mom's parents were farmers, so every summer, my sisters and I would help out, hauling pipe and pulling maggots off the corn. We hated it, but it taught me the meaning of good hard work.

I grew up during the war years in a tiny cottage with no electricity. Water for washing was pumped from a pond. My brother and I had to fetch drinking water from a tap at the end of the lane, and light was from candles, paraffin lamps, and our nightly log fire.

I grew up in a little town in Arkansas called Clarksville and it was a weird existence, you know? I grew up white trash; we had holes in our walls.

My favorite thing to do in the summer was to sleep out in the forest on the farm I grew up on.