I have always believed that anybody with a little guts and the desire to apply himself can make it, can make anything he wants to make of himself.

If Jack Nicklaus can win the Masters at 46, I can win the Kentucky Derby at 54.

When you're riding, only the race in which you're riding is important.

Desire is the most important factor in the success of any athlete.

The horse never knows I'm there until he needs me.

There are one hundred and ninety nine ways to get beat, but only one way to win; get there first.

The more risk you can take upfront in life, the better off you will be later.

Religion is a great force - the only real motive force in the world but you must get at a man through his own religion not through yours.

Talking too much too soon and with too much self-satisfaction has always seemed to me a sure way to court disaster.

Mastery has been achieved when one neither makes a mistake nor hesitates in the performance.

I almost find it very attractive when a woman has no idea who I am.

That they dared make a town of this wet and sucking thing that vied with my foot for my boot at every step bespoke the glorious and yearning bullshit of men's souls.

It is almost intrinsically impossible for ideas about how we are fooling ourselves to gain an adequate hearing. We are good enough at it to keep them nicely at bay.

I can't just listen to music walking down the street unless I have a reason to. I can't just listen to music as a piece of junk in the background. It drives me insane.

It's great to do small plays in the theatre and then go off with Blur and play in front of thousands of people.

I enjoy receiving and giving realistic fiction, for both children and adults, with strong characters, beautiful language, and humane visions.