I feel I have proved myself just as much as everybody else does. I usually don't think about the past too much. I just try to perform the routines I have been practicing.
I don't want to give myself grades. I will leave evaluation of my achievements to history.
I believe I've shown my worth, become a world champion, now I want to try and see how good I am. The only way I'll find that out is by testing myself against the best.
I don't trust too much in personal trophies.
The Olympic gold was like going to a theater and seeing a movie that had the ending you expected. But you left the theater thinking, 'You know, that was a good movie.'
I'll believe I made it when I'm 100 years old, I'm still able to get work, and they're about to put me in a coffin, and I'll be like, 'Yeah, OK, it went all right.' But until then, I'm not saying it.
Parents can fail to cheer your successes as wildly as you expected, pointing out that you are sharing your Nobel Prize with a couple of other people, or that your Oscar was for supporting actress, not really for a starring role. More subtly, they can cheer your successes too wildly, forcing you into the awkward realization that your achievement of merely graduating or getting the promotion did not warrant the fireworks and brass band.
It's very easy to be cynical about the hall of fame. But on the other hand, it's really a beautiful thing for someone like me. I dedicated my entire life to this music.
I don't feel I have to acknowledge how I'm doing by an award.
An award should be earned based on an actor's ability and not be just given as a present.
I was quite emotional when I finished my lap, but had to wait for other drivers to cross the line to hear whether I'd actually done it. It feels very special, but I acknowledge that the old master, Nigel Mansell, took his 14 poles from only 16 races.
Just because I beat David Haye doesn't make me a great fighter. I'm still the same fighter that I was.
Did I really earn this, or did I just wear you all down?
Praise never gives us much pleasure unless it concur with our own opinion, and extol us for those qualities in which we chiefly excel.
