You have to be able to be a good loser. You have to be okay knowing you're going to fail every day in something without getting mad and upset.

The decathlon includes ten separate events and they all matter. You can't work on just one of them.

It really means a lot that I won the gold medal - but I woke up the next morning expecting to feel different. I felt the same.

I always know where the scissors are.

And there is such a thing as a decathlon high. It's like a rock rolling down hill, picking up momentum. You get better and better.

It took me time to realize that the men who won Olympic gold medals in the decathlon are just men, just like me.

Try everything, because you're never sure what you're going to be great at.

To me, the decathlon is its own little society and I am part of that culture.

When I was little, I wasn't allowed to put sugar on my breakfast cereal because it made me so hyper.

Breaking the world record in '92 was a very special personal moment, but I'd say my favorite moment as a decathlete was winning the Olympic gold medal.

It's important for me to think I'm mixed-race.

I started wondering if God really existed. The world seemed too empty and lonely for there to be a God in it. But I figured he must exist because I kept blaming everything on him.

Doodling serves as a means of keeping the hand or fingers limber, so that they are always ready for serious work.

A person who undertakes the study of Zen and learns concentration and meditation is like a gymnast. You become a gymnast of the mind.

I came from a family of Marines into the family of Marines.

I am a very committed European.

I really like the relaxed glamour of the 70s.

Fear is for people who don’t get out very much.

Winning tends to heal uneasiness and promote job security.

Americans learn only from catastrophe and not from experience.

I believe in not quite knowing. A writer needs to be doubtful, questioning. I write out of curiosity and bewilderment.