In group lesson number six I think we learned how to turn backwards and then just kind of wiggle. That wasn't really skating backward, but I guess I was going in the right direction.

I was just ice skating. I had no concept of that. In those days you couldn't see the judges. I was this little person on the ice and they were just people that would stand around the boards.

I was a bratty little sister. I was the youngest of three, and I often felt as though I didn't fit in.

To be the world's best, you have to beat the world's best.

If you are a complete perfectionist, then the truth is that this ice skating business will drive you a little crazy!

If I'm on skates, I feel at home no matter what I'm doing. If they wanted me to sing and dance I think I could do it just becauseI was on skates. When I'm not on skates, though, I feel very strange.

I think I dreamed about competing at the Olympics, maybe hoping to win a gold medal. Not that I ever thought that I would, but I dreamed about it.

I wouldn't say that there's ever been an Olympic champion that didn't deserve to win an Olympic Gold Medal.

Every time you go out on the ice, there are slight flaws. You can always think of something you should have done better. These are the things you must work on.

I hated to read. My mother could not get me to read. I’m going through the same thing with my daughter now. I love to read now, but I don’t remember reading.

It's different today than it was then. In those days we were strictly amateurs. If I had wanted to stay in for the '80 Olympics, my parents couldn't have afforded it.

Reality is just an interpretation. Some people believe only God really knows what's going on: we mortals just make up our own versions of it.

The cheapest route to a new opportunity is conversation.

Gods, I love sports. All the excitement of real news, only it doesn't matter so you don't have to worry about it.

It's always the generals with the bloodiest records who are the first to shout what a hell it is. And it's always the war widows who lead the Memorial Day parades.

One of the fantastic things about books, fiction or non-fiction, is the way they give you a chance to look into different lives.

Most of the time, I'm here in Michigan and I'm taking out the garbage every Monday.

What drew me to both study and activism was the formative experience of the civil rights movement.

I love to dance and dance all night long.

If we are to cherish freedom, and to guard it, we must remember what the alternative is: the bread of affliction and the bitter herbs of slavery.

Pray for great things, expect great things, work for great things, but above all pray.