I never race for records. The motivation to try to beat the record is not enough to continue. You have to enjoy it.

Riding a race bike is an art - a thing that you do because you feel something inside.

The most important thing is to have a good relationship with the bike... you have to understand what she wants. I think of a motorcycle as a woman, and I know that sounds silly, but it's true.

To be a great motorbike racer, the most important thing is passion for the bike.

The speed is something dangerous but very exciting.

Giving yourself threads doesn't mean you don't believe in yourself in my opinion.

Maybe the bike is more dangerous, but the passion for the car for me is second to the bike.

I feel 100% a Yamaha rider in my heart. I had a long career and raced with several factory bikes, but the highlight of my career is undoubtedly with Yamaha.

I'm Valentino Rossi. And I want to be a person, not an icon.

Our sport is dangerous. We risk the life out there, so we need to stay calm and focused and leave all the rest out.

But I could also start F1 or rallying. I love rallying much more.

Now come the whispersbearing bouquets of moonbeamsand sunlight tremblings.

The goal in life is not to try and live forever, but to create something that will forever in people’s hearts.

Some of the stuff I'm writing is almost like hymns, some of my first singing and choral experiences were in church, the Church of Christ in Hicksville.

A political career brings out the basest qualities in human nature.

Though tightly the net of words forms, how surely truth slips out.

Nations are not ruined by one act of violence, but gradually and in an almost imperceptible manner by the depreciation of their circulating currency, through its excessive quantity.

Reality is observer-determined - it's a spatio-temporal process, which fortunately means that things must change.

It's hard to differentiate between a vision and a delusion - both cause you to see things that no one else sees.

There are many Green Dragons in this world of wayside inns, even as there are many White Harts, Red Lions, Silent Women and other incredible things.

I'm signed to Atlantic through 300 Entertainment [Lyor Cohen's label]. That is my only contractual relationship.