We each cope differently with the specter of our deaths. Some people deny it. Some pray. Some numb themselves with tequila. I was tempted to do a little of each of those things. But I think we are supposed to try to face it straightforwardly, armed with nothing but courage.
Lance ArmstrongI know what happened to cycling from 1999 to 2005. I saw its growth, I saw its expansion.
Lance ArmstrongDuring our lives...we experience so many setbacks, and fight such a hand-to-hand battle with failure, head down in the rain, just trying to stay upright and to have a little hope.
Lance ArmstrongThe answer is hard work. What are you doing on Christmas Eve? Are you riding your bike? January 1st - are you riding your bike?
Lance ArmstrongPortland, Oregon won't build a mile of road without a mile of bike path. You can commute there, even with that weather, all the time.
Lance ArmstrongWhat makes a great endurance athlete is the ability to absorb potenial embarrassment, and to suffer without complaint. I was discovering that if it was a matter of gritting my teeth, not caring how it looked, and outlasting everybody else, I won. It didn't seem to matter what sport it was-in a straight-ahead, long-distant race, I could beat anybody. If it was a suffer-fest, I was good at it.
Lance ArmstrongThe unwillingness to accept anything short of victory, that underlying fury, is the fundamental building block of my bottomless motivation to succeed. It is my credo in all that I do in life from battling cancer to bicycle racing.
Lance ArmstrongI'm not willing to put a percentage on the chances but I will no longer rule it out.
Lance ArmstrongWell, you better ride like you stole something 'cause you are about to win a stage in the Tour de Fance.
Lance ArmstrongI rode, and I rode, and I rode. I rode like I had never ridden, punishing my body up and down every hill I could find. I rode when no one else would ride.
Lance ArmstrongI've read that I flew up the hills and mountains of France. But you don't fly up a hill. You struggle slowly and painfully up a hill, and maybe, if you work very hard, you get to the top ahead of everybody else.
Lance ArmstrongIt's tough to be a 15- or 16-year-old athlete competing around the country. There's tension, there's media. I had no idea what I was getting into.
Lance ArmstrongThere was certainly a dishonesty there that I think is totally regrettable and inexcusable. The ringleading, the bullying: not totally true.
Lance ArmstrongMy actions and reactions, and the way I treated certain scenarios, were way out of line, so I deserved some punishment.
Lance ArmstrongTwenty-plus-year career, 500 drug controls worldwide, in and out of competition. Never a failed test. I rest my case.
Lance ArmstrongOne of the redeeming things about being an athlete is redefining what is humanly possible.
Lance ArmstrongEvan Handler is a man who’s looked into the abyss and laughed. His book, It’s Only Temporary, made me laugh along with him. He covers love, lust, showbiz, triumph, and despair – and he manages to be both funny and inspiring about all of it. It’s an important book that I think can help to spread goodness around the world. Something we desperately need.
Lance ArmstrongIf life gives you lemons, drink the juice in order to mask the presence of performing-enhancing drugs.
Lance ArmstrongTo all the cynics, I'm sorry for you. I'm sorry you can't believe in miracles. This is a great sporting event and hard work wins it.
Lance ArmstrongHey. Pain can last a moment, it can last a day, it can last a week, it can last a long..long time, but it can't last forever and the only thing that can last forever is if you quit.
Lance ArmstrongNobody wants to hear how I think I've been mistreated, or how I think my punishment should be lifted, or tweaked, or reduced. Nobody wants to hear me say that, nobody cares what I think about this. I get it.
Lance ArmstrongLife to me is a series of false limits and my challenge as an athlete is to explore those limits
Lance ArmstrongI love this race from the very depths of my heart. It gives me motivation and it transcendsme like nothing else in the world.
Lance ArmstrongWhat makes a great endurance athlete is the ability to absorb potential embarrassment, and to suffer without complaint.
Lance ArmstrongAt this point of my life, I'm not out to protect anybody. I'm out to protect seven people, and they all have the last name Armstrong.
Lance ArmstrongEverything in my life is in perspective. OK, perspective ebbs and flows. I've had bad days, but they weren't in the last years. A bad day is 2 October 1996: 'We've got bad news for you, you've got advanced testicular cancer and you've got a coin's toss chance of survival.' That's a bad day.
Lance ArmstrongPeople refer to 'the good ol' days', but I don't know what they're talking about. As someone who's battled cancer, if I lived more than 20 years ago, I'd be a dead man.
Lance ArmstrongIt was great to fight in training, great to fight in the race, but you don't need to fight in a press conference, or an interview, or a personal interaction.
Lance ArmstrongI have never had a single positive doping test, and I do not take performance-enhancing drugs.
Lance Armstrong