I try to stay on an even keel. I get really fired up on occasion, but staying relaxed and under control bodes better for my game than getting out of control.

I've discovered there is another life besides baseball. You have to be balanced to be a happy person.

I don't feel any pressure when I'm up there at the plate. I feel it when I'm in the on-deck circle, but when I'm in the box, it's just me and the pitcher, and I get zoned in.

Obviously, success breeds more confidence. And it's pretty easy to be confident if you're getting a hit almost every time at bat.

I try not to have personal goals. Personal numbers is a mind-set. The only numbers I care about are in the win column.

If making an error doesn't make you mad, what's the point? Why put all the work in?

You're not always going to be perfect, but I always try to be.

I'm not comfortable being that outgoing guy. That's not me. I never used to talk to anybody.

My mother was the biggest influence on me, without question.

I'm still very critical of myself, but I've learned to deal with it. You know that every at-bat is important, but it's not life and death.

You can't change your game based on where you're playing.

If you can't feel the touch of the gods on your own, it greatly behooves you to work on that before some lecher tells you his touch is just as good.

There are curveballs that are thrown at you, and you just have to get over it and forgive... if you believe you're perfect, and you don't believe in forgiveness, you're not meant to be married.

Do nothing without regard to the consequences.

Happiness is realizing that nothing is too important.

Self-pity is, perhaps, the least becoming of all emotions, and we often indulge in it only beause we are too exhausted to resist.

We must be certain that we all realize that our enemy is not an enemy that is located in one single place. There are terrorist cells all around the globe.

God saves, not God empathizes, cares, listens, helps, assists, or applauds.

The first day ofschool was always so exciting because you get new shoes and a new backpack, but by the last day of school, you're like, "I don't care. I will wear sweats. Am I done yet?"

Theology is not only about understanding the world; it is about mending the world.