Michael Phelps Quotes

I'm pretty lazy. My wife always says, "you're the laziest, most successful Olympian I've ever seen." How does that make sense? Honestly, if I have downtime, I'm really, really good at not doing anything.

I feel like Aaron brings out the best in me

Swimming is normal for me. I'm relaxed. I'm comfortable, and I know my surroundings. It's my home.

Obviously for water safety, you want to learn just to be comfortable in the water; that's the main goal. I think the second that you start freaking out and feeling uncomfortable, it's not going to go well.

When we got in the race, we knew what we had to do and knew what we wanted to do. Having three of four guys from the American record 800 free relay is a pretty solid relay, so we thought we could take a crack at the U.S. Open record tonight. We're all a little tired, but that's fifth-fastest American relay ever, so it's not a bad time. We ended tonight on a great note.

Why is it such a big deal what I'm swimming?

Every day is different and every day brings something more exciting.

I like to just think of myself as a normal person who just has a passion, has a goal and a dream and goes out and does it. And that's really how I've always lived my life.

Swimming is more than a once-every-four-years sport. My goal is to bring attention to swimming - to give it some personality.

Once I'm already in my room, I still have to open a door to get into my bed. It's like a giant box. It's like the boy in a bubble.

I've been around water my whole life, so I basically really learned at a young age the importance of it but also one day, at one point, clean water will be hard to find. There's so many people throughout the world that don't have access to clean water. Obviously we're extremely fortunate to have the opportunities that we have and to have all the water that we have. Like I said, and I can't say it enough, we all should work together to try and conserve as much as we possible can.

Being compared to Ian Thorpe, that could be one of the greatest compliments you could ever get in swimming - being compared to him and Mark Spitz.

I think that everything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and you put the work and time into it. I think your mind really controls everything.

This is my 20th year in the sport. I've known swimming and that's it. I don't want to swim past age 30; if I continue after this Olympics, and come back in 2016, I'll be 31. I'm looking forward to being able to see the other side of the fence.

I consider myself normal. I've spent 20 years in the pool. I consider that something that's normal.

I treat every race the same. We all wanted to swim fast today and give something back to the crowd.

Every day, there's always something to be worried about; you turn on the news and see something different every day, and it's terrible. Hopefully, as Americans, and as the inhabitants of the world, we can come together. We need to change lives - whether that's conserving water, destigmatizing mental health treatment or something else. We can change lives.

When I'm focused, there is not one single thing, person, anything that can stand in the way of my doing something. There is not. If I want something bad enough, I feel I'm gonna get there.

I wanted to do something nobody ever did. This goes hand in hand with my goal of changing swimming.

I am excited to have the opportunity to help provide the same swim instruction that I received as a child when I was enrolled in a water safety class at five-years-old.

I'm so sick of the water.

There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work... THERE ARE NO LIMITS.

I don't want to be the next Mark Spitz; I want to be the first Michael Phelps

Even in high school, I'd tell my mom I was sick of swimming and wanted to try to play golf. She wasn't too happy. She'd say, 'Think about this.' And I'd always end up getting back in the pool.

If you say "can't" you're restricting what you can do or ever will do.

I knew I was not a failure in any way, and so did those close to me. It doesn't matter if you fall short; it is never a failure to go after your goals with everything you've got.

Things can change in the blink of an eye!

I got the stamina. I can close.

[Phelps] firmly denies that he takes drugs, suggesting that the notorious photo of him smoking from a bong was a one-time lapse of judgment.

I believe in God; I'm not saying I'm highly religious.

I wanted to get the fastest time in the world this year, but with everything going on, it's a pretty decent swim, ... I knew I was under world record pace. You could tell by the crowd. You can always tell at these meets when something good is going on because of the crowd.

There is a one woman in China that claimed she paid $50 to get my e-mail address. It was pretty shocking. I got one this morning from Scotland. A girl's requesting a signed photo of me.

I'm fortunate to have an amazing, strong mother who is so supportive of everything me and my sisters did growing up - but she was someone who never forced us to go swim or to go do this or that. She helped us think about certain consequences when we needed to, but we made our own decisions. I think if I were forced to swim, I wouldn't have stayed in the pool as long as I did.

Nothing is impossible. With so many people saying it couldn't be done, all it takes is an imagination.

I like to get in my own world. When I'm getting ready for a meet, I always have headphones on, listening to rap music to get myself fired up

Dream as big as you can dream, and anything is possible.

I see my goals as personal and I always have. That's just been how I've worked.

The problem with heart disease is the first symptom is often fatal.

I want to go to the World Cup. I want to go to the Masters. I want to go... anywhere.

With social media, so many people have anxiety and depression because of it. Of course technology is somewhat good, but it can present so many issues; more and more we're seeing what that's causing, and it's even leading to deaths. I just got finished doing a documentary called Anx with children talking about anxiety and recognizing their emotions and understanding them better. We need to let kids know it's OK to not be OK. And we need to help them be comfortable talking about it.

And I hope seeing a therapist becomes 10 times easier in the future. For me, once I came out of treatment, I got into a therapist and continued my road to recovery and health and happiness. But not everyone can do that. It's challenging to see a therapist when you work full-time, when you can't get an appointment within a week, and then by the time you do get one, maybe you feel like your "problem" has lessened and you don't bother to go in. It's about access.

I don't like to be second in anything. I was trying, I just wasn't going anywhere.

I'm kind of a creature of habit. Once I get used to doing things, it's like second nature.

I want to test my maximum and see how much I can do. And I want to change the world of swimming.

The more you dream the more you achieve.

We're all a little tired.

I always thought, it would be neat to make the Olympic team.

It doesn't matter what else is going on. When you walk into your arena or your - whatever you excel at, you're there to take care of the job that you have to do.