“I’m not one to sit around and be satisfied about something. I can always get better.”

If you’re going to play at all, you’re out to win. Baseball, board games, playing Jeopardy, I hate to lose.

When I was younger, I was always taught not to make excuses.

You have to take the good with the bad. Some players only talk to the press when they are doing good. When you’re doing bad you shouldn’t shy away from them and when doing good, don’t run up to them.

I think sometimes people need to get used to an idea.

My grandmother asks me to race down the street, I’m going to try to beat her. And I’ll probably enjoy it. Competitive to a fault, sometimes.

We just want to win. That’s the bottom line. I think a lot of times people may become content with one championship or a little bit of success, but we don’t really reflect on what we’ve done in the past. We focus on the present.

The one thing I always said to myself was that when baseball started to feel more like a job, it would be time to move forward.

What kind of influence did my parents have on my life? Well, they had the most influence. These are the people who are closest to me. My parents are very positive people. They’ve been supportive. They’re always there.

Athletics keeps us healthy, gets us up and running around. It also gives you an opportunity to meet a lot of different people, which is very important.

I always take criticism as a challenge. It’s the way I’ve always looked at it.

If you’re going to win games, you’re going to have to come up with the big hits. That’s the bottom line.

I go into every game thinking I’m going to be the hero. I have to, or I wouldn’t enjoy it.

When you put a lot of hard work into one goal and you achieve it, that’s a really good feeling.

It doesn’t feel different being here (at the All-Star Game) I feel like I’m on an All-Star team everyday.

I attribute much of my success in New York to my ability to understand and avoid unnecessary distractions.

My parents always felt if I worked hard enough I could make any dream come true.

For me, perfume, must be adapted to fashion, not the other way around.

Iowa is an amazing place. But I didn’t have much race around me. I was definitely not like everyone there.

I gasp, pressing both palms to my chest. Now the monstrous thing has its claws around my throat, squeezing my airway. I twist and put my head between my knees, breathing until the strangled feeling leaves me.

When you are completely absorbed or caught up in something, you become oblivious to things around you, or to the passage of time. It is this absorption in what you are doing that frees your unconscious and releases your creative imagination.

Everything we say and do and think has its effect on everything around us.

I have seen too many chaotic settings, where children are running around. There’s no sense of purpose.

I know exactly how we fit together, his arm around my waist, my hands on his chest, the pressure of his lips on mine. We have each other memorized.

I don’t sit around with my friends and talk about money, ever. On a record, that’s different.