Michael Phelps

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

• 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.

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

• I won't predict anything historic but nothing is impossible. 

• I think goals should never be easy, they should force you to work, even if they are uncomfortable at the time.

• I want to test my maximum and see how much I can do.”

• I want to be able to look back and say, ‘I’ve done everything I can, and I was successful.’ I don’t want to look back and say I should have done this or that.

• I found something I love… And never gave up.

• Things won’t go perfect. It’s all about how you adapt from those things and learn from mistakes.

• So many people along the way, whatever it is you aspire to do, will tell you it can’t be done. But all it takes is imagination. You dream. You plan. You reach.

• The more you dream the more you achieve.

• 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.

• I know it won’t be eight medals again. If you want to compare me to that, that’s your decision, not mine. I’m going out there to try to accomplish the things that I have in my mind and in my heart.
• I knew I wasn't a failure in any way. It doesn't matter if you fall short; it's never a failure to go after your goals with everything you got.