Quotes By Michael Phelps

I've been able to get an excitement back in the water.

I won't predict anything historic. But nothing is impossible.

There were times I wouldn't come to practice, because it didn't excite me. It wasn't interesting. I was kind of going through the motions.

I got the stamina. I can close.

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 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 am 26 and, and I don't recover as fast as I have in the past.

The more you dream the more you achieve.

I have reached a place in my life where I need to sit down and say, 'Well, what do I do? What's best for me?' I need to look into options for the future.

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

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

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.

People say to me, 'You're so lucky. You get to see the world.' But I don't. I go to the hotel and to the pools and back again. That's it.

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

I'm so sick of the water.

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.

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

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 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.

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

Once I retire, I'm retiring. I'm done.

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.

Every day after I wake up, I think, 'Wait... this can't be real; I'm still going to wake up.'

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.

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.

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

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.

I live a pretty conservative life, so I probably really haven't done anything crazy.

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