The single sculler, alone on the river at dawn, or spotlighted in his lane during a race, is th emost romantic, the most quixotic figure in all rowing.

There is a place where cerebral an corporeal meet: they call it rowing

The oars game me power but also taught me humility.

Ergometer is Greek for 'work meter'

In college, I was an editor on the student daily... To the extent that I noticed the existence of crew at all, I saw only what appeared to be big-boned acolytes who rose at dawn.

When you are on the erg your mind is too busy to pay attention to the sounds of the machine; you notice only that they are indeed loud.

A boat is the hardest think I know of to put into perspective. It is so much like a human figure, there is something alive about it.

The greatest poet who ever wrote about rowing is Virgil, the greatest historian is Thucydides, but the greatest imagination ever to turn its attention to the sport is that of painter, Thomas Eakins.

Rowing was not simple for me. I nodded whenever the instructor made a point, as if I understood, but I could as easily have assembled the space shuttle as have repeated the moves she was explaining.

If rowing is a trial then the ergometer is the courtroom, the meter is the jury. And an honest jury at that, because the numbers do not lie.

Rowing it was pointed out, was a sport that risked few injuries. So it was, I ould discover, but only if you did it right.

The best lies are always flavoured with the truth but if the substance is rotten, it will stink no matter how much you try to disguise it.

In extreme youth in our most humiliating sorrow we think we are alone. When we are older we find that others have suffered too.

Anyone can cook but only the fearless can be great.

You mustn't confuse the need for effective chairmanship, which is part of the job of the boss, along with the ability to take tough decisions and to lead people.

I think everybody in my generation, we wanted to be Elvis.

I always travel with my bike and it has become a little more difficult to do it nowadays, but I stick it in 3,5 by 6-foot case and wheel that thing in.

The glory of science is to imagine more than we can prove.

Prayer indeed is good, but while calling on the gods a man should himself lend a hand.

I guess he believes if a lie is big enough and repeated often enough, it will be believed.

Glen Johnson is an England international in the making. Although he has already played for England .