Don't put a limit on anything. The more you dream the farther you get.
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.
The more you dream the more you achieve.
I think goals should never be easy, they should force you to work, even if they are uncomfortable at the time.
I feel most at home in the water. I disappear. That's where I belong.
You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.
Doubt your doubts before you doubt yourself.
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.
Doubt your doubts before you doubt yourself.
I've enjoyed training again, I've enjoyed pushing myself in the pool and I'll keep on swimming until I feel I cannot get any more out of myself.
I'm so sick of the water.
I can't remember the last day I didn't train.
The fairytale has turned into a nightmare.
If you're not failing once in a while, it probably means you're not stretching yourself.
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.
I try to separate my personal life from swimming.
You are always racing against the other swimmers, but I always try to just focus on what I'm doing and how I want to swim my races.
And if I'm ahead, I can sometimes tell.
It might mean I'm having a good swim, but pretty much, I'm just focused on how fast I'm going, how fast I'm feeling, and pretty much block everything out, the sounds, the sights, just kind of listen to the rhythm of the water, and just maintaining the same stroke, the same rhythm, the same tempo, and thinking about how I want to get my hand to the wall.
I always just focus on what my own goals are, and not what anybody else's goals for me are or their expectations. I just know that my family will always be supporting me and my friends and my coaches. And as long as I put in the hard work and know that I'm giving it my best effort, I will always be happy.
I think Rowdy Gaines actually said something like: Katie Ledecky doesn't swim like a man. She swims like Katie Ledecky.And that was a good comment. I swim the way I swim. And I take it as a compliment when somebody says I swim like a man, because, as you said, my stroke is kind of taken after what some of the male freestylers have done. But I'm just trying to go as fast as I can go.
Practice things until you can't get them wrong. Not until you get them right. There's a big difference.
I hope that young girls will have the dream and will have experiences.
And it might not be in swimming. It might be in something else. But I found a passion, and I love it. It's something I love and something I enjoy. It's something I'm good at. And it's what I have been able to give 100 percent to.
If you look at me, basically my whole entire life I've been around water.
So when you look at a stat like, "If you leave the faucet running for two minutes while you brush your teeth you waste four gallons of water," to me that's mind-blowing. There are so many people that don't even have access to clean water, and people leave their faucets running. For me it was something that fit with things that I believe in.
Obviously for water safety, you want to learn just to be comfortable in the water; that's the main goal. I think the second that you start freaking out and feeling uncomfortable, it's not going to go well.
Every day is different and every day brings something more exciting.
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'm pretty lazy. My wife always says, "you're the laziest, most successful Olympian I've ever seen." How does that make sense? Honestly, if I have downtime, I'm really, really good at not doing anything.
Hardest thing about exercise? Getting out the front door. Don't think. Just go.
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.
I'm fortunate to have an amazing, strong mother who is so supportive of everything me and my sisters did growing up - but she was someone who never forced us to go swim or to go do this or that. She helped us think about certain consequences when we needed to, but we made our own decisions. I think if I were forced to swim, I wouldn't have stayed in the pool as long as I did.
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.
Every day, there's always something to be worried about;
you turn on the news and see something different every day, and it's terrible. Hopefully, as Americans, and as the inhabitants of the world, we can come together. We need to change lives - whether that's conserving water, destigmatizing mental health treatment or something else. We can change lives.
There's such a high stigma around talking about your feelings or insecurities because, especially for men, we don't want to show that "weakness." But I'm always like, "OK, what would you rather do: Show weakness and get better, or continue to get worse and who knows where that leads?" There's something behind the suicide rate continuing to climb year after year. Why don't we ask for help?
If youre not failing once in a while, it probably means youre not stretching yourself.
For myself, losing is not coming second.
It's getting out of the water knowing you could have done better. For myself, I have won every race I've been in.
I wouldn't say anything is impossible.
I think that everything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and put the work and time into it.
Remember to do the things you enjoy away from swimming, regularly.
Sometimes we question things that we have done in our lives but how many times do we question what we haven't done in someone else's.
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.
Swimming is normal for me. I'm relaxed. I'm comfortable, and I know my surroundings. It's my home.
You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the further you get.
If I didn't swim my best, I'd think about it at school, at dinner, with my friends. It would drive me crazy.
My goal is one Olympic gold medal. Not many people in this world can say, 'I'm an Olympic gold medalist.'
I won't predict anything historic. But nothing is impossible.
I'm the same kind of guy before all this happened.
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 test my maximum and see how much I can do. And I want to change the world of swimming.
If you're not failing once in a while, it probably means you're not stretching yourself.
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.
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.
There is a one woman in China that claimed she paid $50 to get my e-mail address. It was pretty shocking. I got one this morning from Scotland. A girl's requesting a signed photo of me.
I always thought, it would be neat to make the Olympic team.
I think it's better to attempt something and fail than it is to not even attempt it, so I'm glad that I've been prepared to put myself on the line there.
I'll go for broke. Swim faster. It's not going to be easy - this whole thing was never going to be easy.
I thought I could, and thought I would, swim a lot quicker - much quicker.