You can't ask a guy like me why [I performed]. I really wanted to fly through the air. I was a daredevil, a performer. I loved the thrill, the money, the whole macho thing. All those things made me Evel Knievel. Sure, I was scared. You gotta be an ass not to be scared. But I beat the hell out of death.

I've always lived by the creed that you're never a failure in life when you fall as long as you try and get up.

I'm not a stunt man. I'm not a dare devil...I'm an explorer.

Harley-Davidson is the finest company in the world.

I guess I'm like any other concerned father, except that nobody else's son guns a cycle over 17 pickups without holding on to the handlebars.

If it is possible, it is done. If it is impossible... it will be done.

In the old days they, the promoters, wanted more and more from me. They wanted me to jump or spill my blood and break my bones. Every time they wanted me to jump further, and further, and further. Hell, they thought my bike had wings.