American Quotes

Faulkner was almost oriental. I never got into Faulkner.

After I retired and came off the road, I gathered up all my musical instruments and suddenly, I wanted them all to be perfect.

The first guy who came up with the concept of religion was sitting out under a tree. I'm sure of that.

The best compliment I ever had is, one day I was in Nashville, some disc jockey said, Hey, that sounds like a Tom T. Hall song. Up until then there hadn't been any such thing.

I'm a very comfortable and happy-go-lucky old man. I never wanted to be great, because I'd just get worried.

When you retire, it's a place in life, a part of the journey. You just don't quit work; you develop an attitude where you can do what you please.

I love winners when they cry, losers when they try.

Whiskey's to tough, Champagne costs too much, Vodka puts my mouth in gear. I hope this refrain, Will help me explain, As a matter of fact, I like beer.

I think my emotional revulsion against Stalin's terror would have stopped me in my tracks.

You're going to have to bring your 'A' game.

You dream about the Olympics for so long and you have that one day, then it's over, and when you don't run well there is this huge letdown. It took me years to deal with that. I feel like I almost had to cleanse myself of that experience.

The big thing is hydrating the day before the race. I will have 20 ounces of water right when I get up in the morning the day before, and I'll drink throughout the day.

More than the time, it's about how you feel - you want to be strong throughout the race.

It took years, honestly, to deal with the disappointment of Beijing.

I've always said that racing in New York is performing on the big stage.

I try to avoid the temptation with time as a total indicator for what my possibilities are for the marathon. It's the not the best indicator, but it's more how you feel, how you cover the distance and how you are able to do the training afterward.

I think the biggest thing was that I was putting pressure on myself leading up to Beijing. Now I am learning how to take that pressure off and seeing this as an incredible opportunity, but not like, 'I absolutely have to medal.'

I think sometimes you can study guys and build them into giants that they are not.

I really didn't feed off the whole Olympic experience at all, and I regret that from an athletic perspective, and also from a personal experience. I feel like I missed out, so I'm not going to do that this time.

I race kind of sparingly.

I may not drink an electrolyte beverage during the race. If I am running in an hour, I won't need one. But if you're running an hour-and-a-half to two hours or more, maybe you need a little bit of the electrolytes.

I don't really study the guys that I'm racing against.

I don't know how you keep the world record holder off your team.

I couldn't be more excited to return to the ING New York City Marathon.

For most of the track world, the Olympic year is such a huge year, and it's a big year for us marathoners too.

But it is nice to know that you have other races lined up, because sometimes you can get so focused on your next marathon that it can become kind of unhealthy in some ways. So it's nice to have something else to slap you in the face and say, all right, there is life after the Olympics.

It's kind of nice in some ways having an Olympic Trials where I finished second. You can kind of go in more under the radar facing a 2:03 guy and facing a lot of dudes who are faster than I am, whereas, before Beijing, I had one of the top 10 times in the field, or something like that.

Yes, I mean, There's nothing like it. There is an added sense of pressure because of that, but there's also nothing like the thrill you get being in the same space with that audience right there and then. And when you do it, it's over.

Ultimately, I'm a mess. I don't mean I'm a mess, like, emotionally - I mean, I think probably everybody's a mess. David's a mess. But. I'm talking about... I'm messy.

So it's really nice after about a year and a half to get back on stage and flex those old muscles.