For kids it's natural to be competitive.

Sport fosters many things that are good; teamwork and leadership.

The only limitations are mental. The guy who thinks positively will win.

I'm competitive - that's what defines me - and I love it.

I don't even have my own computer.

Sometimes you have to resist working on your strengths in favour of your weaknesses. The decathlon requires a wide range of skills.

If you don't want to grow old, then slow down the slowing down process.

I have the mentality of a winner. I first went to the Olympic Games when I was 17, three weeks after my O-levels, and I remember sitting in a dining-hall filled with the world's best athletes.

Being a decathlete is like having ten girlfriends. You have to love them all, and you can't afford losing one.

Having the ambition of becoming Olympic champion is a whole different ambition from wanting to be the greatest.

Los Angeles was great fun because it was the polar opposite of Moscow in 1980. It was sunny and bright, lots of colours around, whereas Moscow was dark and oppressive.

My father looked as if I'd just gutted him - but it was mingled with a twisted sense of satisfaction. It felt good to hurt his feelings.

Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. A constant coming and going: wisdom lies in the momentary.

It becomes an extension of your imagination to make something tangible and concrete.

The lover as baby is a less troubling idea than the baby as lover.

White people scare the crap out of me.

The love of God is not something vague or generic; the love of God has a name and a face: Jesus Christ.

I don't believe in elitism. I don't think the audience is this dumb person lower than me. I am the audience.

Painters paint, and history continues to make fools of curators.

When you're too close to people, when you spend too much time with them and love them too dearly, sometimes you can't see them

The Israelis have a lot of influence with Congress, and in some cases they are able to buy influence.