Your past forms you, whether you like it or not. Each encounter and experience has its own effect, and you're shaped the way the wind shapes a mesquite tree on a plain.

My mother told me...if you're going to get anywhere, you're going to have to do it yourself, because no one is going to do it for you.

Made plenty of mistakes along the way - all of which I am truly sorry.

I wanted to win the Tour de France. And when I won it once, I wanted to do it again, and again, and again, it just kept going. So there wasn't another competitive environment.

No one automatically gives you respect just because you show up. You have to earn it

Nobody needs to cry for me. I'm going to be great.

If there is a defining characteristic of a man as opposed to a boy, maybe it's patience.