Michael Phelps

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'd like to change things for the younger generation of swimmers coming along.

For so long, I looked at myself as literally a kid who was talented who would go up and down the pool. That's it. Nothing else. Very few people knew who I really was.

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

There are too many kids who are drowning for lack of water safety. That's something I'd like to do. Teaching kids to live an active lifestyle.

My goal is one Olympic gold medal. Not many people in this world can say, 'I'm an Olympic gold medalist.'

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

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

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

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

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

I have the opportunity to be part of swimming history. To take the sport to a new level would be an honor for me. There's no better time to try this than now.

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.

I can't remember the last day I didn't train.

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

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

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

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.

I still remember the days, not wanting to see anybody, not wanting to talk to anybody, really not wanting to live. I was on an express elevator to the bottom floor, wherever that might be.

Anything is possible as long as you want it, you work for it. Doesn't matter what anyone else thinks, the only person that can really put pressure on you is yourself

So many people along the way,whatever it is you aspire to do, will tell you it can't be done. But it all it takes is imagination. You dream. You plan. You reach. There will be obstacles. There will doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, with belief, with confidence and trust in yourself and those around you, there no limits.