Michael Phelps Quotes

If you want to be the best you have to do things that other people aren't willing to do.

The one thing that's common to all successful people: They make a habit of doing things that unsuccessful people don't like to do.

If I bring back only one gold people are going to say it's a disappointment. But not too many of them own an Olympic gold medal so if I get one I'm going to be happy.

If I didn't swim my best, I'd think about it at school, at dinner, with my friends. It would drive me crazy.

I'm the same kind of guy before all this happened.

This is the first medal I've ever won in an international meet. For it to be gold is incredible. It feels great. I can't explain it.

You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.

Other nights ... I visualize to the point that I know exactly what I want to do: dive, glide, stroke, flip, reach the wall, hit the split time to the hundredth, then swim back again for as many times as I need to finish the race.

Our time on Earth is already short enough. For me, it's like every single day I try to be as happy as I can. It's crazy to think about. We never have enough time. That's always the thing. We always want to do more. So it's about being able to spend time on the things that are most important to you. Life is a lot easier that way, and obviously life is pretty difficult a lot of the time.

Before, it came easy for me. I don't have two speeds anymore. I need to focus on the small things that I once took for granted.

I learned how fast you can go from being an international hero to being a reference in a joke on a late night talk show.

If you're not on your 'A' game in our workouts every day, you're going to get absolutely smoked.

For recovery, I think it's a big deal to eat within a half-hour after you exercise. Otherwise I just try to put carbs into my system before I swim and then load up on the protein after. I don't count calories. Whether it's Sour Patch Kids or Reese's or a bag of chips, if I feel like eating it, I'm going to eat it.

I think sometimes I guess you see records, say you want to get there and use that as motivation. In a way, it's kind of cool if there is a possibility to rewrite history and be up there with the greats of Olympic history.

I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again.

Records are made to be broken.

My little son is already like me - my mom has always said I used to bounce off the wall and never stop talking or sit still. I'm starting to see that with him. I guess it's living proof he's part of me.

If you put your mind to anything that you dream, you can achieve it.

At a very young age, I wrote down the goals that I had so I could always see what I wanted to accomplish. And I would look at that goal sheet and think "I still want to do this."So I'd decide "I'm not quitting."

It's the Olympics. If you can't get up to swim early in the morning, don't go.

I used to always go to church on holidays, but I don't go much any more.

When you use your imagination anything can happen.

My mom put me and my sisters in the water to feel comfortable, to have water safety.

My mom never really pushed me into doing something. It was kind of whatever I wanted to do, and that was what made me continue and have the longevity that I had in my career. I went through ups and downs in the pool when I loved it and when I hated it.

I think to be - for me to be an American is - you know, it's one of the greatest things in the world for - you know, for me just because I've been able to grow up with everything. The freedom. You know, in my eyes this is the greatest country in the world.

Coming into tonight, I knew it was going to be a great race, ... In the 400, Laszlo put up a 4:10.1 earlier in the year, and so you expect him to put up a good time in (the 200). I knew Ryan was going to be fast coming off his short course season, and he's improved a lot since Athens, so I just wanted to go out there and relax a bit and go out there and do what I had to do.

You can't put a limit anything.

I feel most at home in the water. I disappear. That's where I belong.

Swimming is fun. It's a lot funner than golf.

It's tough to put into words right now, but I finished my career how I wanted to. Through the ups and downs of my career I've still been able to do everything that I've ever wanted to accomplish.

If I want to achieve the goals I've set, I've got to be in tip-top shape.

It's cool just because I've had this dream of changing the sport of swimming and it's finally happening.

We wanted to see how close we could get to the world record. We'll take that for right now.

It's not how you start, but it's how you finish.

Perseverance, determination, commitment, and courage-those things are real. The desire for redemption drives you.

I think the biggest things I am looking forward to is getting new faces into the sport. Getting kids who could be afraid of water to feel comfortable in the pool.

And, you know, being able to wear the stars and stripes, when you step up on one of the blocks or, you know, when you step off of an airplane or when you hear the national anthem play, you know, it's one of the greatest feelings in the world because you know that there are people at home who are supporting you and watching you.

Water has always been a large part of my life, so for me now, being a father with another child on the way, I'm just teaching some of the small things I've been able to learn - and passing that onto the younger generation. Small things like turning your faucet off when you brush your teeth, not taking a 30-minute shower when you really don't need to. So I want to teach the younger generation to spread the message and make a difference. I'm almost more excited to do this than I was to swim.