“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.”

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 consider myself normal. I’ve spent 20 years in the pool. I consider that something that’s normal.

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

I haven’t swam in any of the rivers outside of Baltimore. I try to keep it in the pool.

Growing up in high school, I wasn’t hanging out with friends every day or on the weekends. Doing normal high school kid things was something I was willing to give up.

I usually try to eat lot of calories. With so many events, it is important to sustain a high level of energy through the entire meet. I usually eat two hours before a meet.

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

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

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

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.

Any Olympic sport is great to watch.

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.

I’m so sick of the water.

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

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 think one day I’d like to win an Oscar.

A good day for Barack Obama is anytime the dominant topic of discussion is anything but the economy.

My overall knowledge of football specifications, the overall process that happens on game day with the footballs is very limited.

Harold Ramis and I together did the ‘National Lampoon Show’ off Broadway, ‘Meatballs,’ ‘Stripes,’ ‘Caddyshack,’ ‘Ghostbusters’ and ‘Groundhog Day.’ He earned his keep on this planet. God bless him.

In 1994, nobody could have predicted ‘Shawshank’ would one day be an iconic movie – and believe me, that would never have happened if Danny Glover had been Red instead of Morgan Freeman.

There is nothing in the world of art like the songs mother used to sing.

Today is a brand new day. A day of change, of promise, of creativity, of kindness, and of love. I’m going back to bed.

Every day, the front page of The Drudge Report is littered with stories of government assaults on our civil liberties – from local government officials all the way up to the Oval Office.