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

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

The more you dream the more you achieve.

I eat pretty much whatever I want. I don’t have a strict diet. It’s all about cramming in as many calories into my system as I possibly can.

I want to continue the sport of swimming. I’m not going to give up until I think it’s reached where I want it to go.

I think the biggest things I am looking forward to is getting new faces into the sport. Getting kids who could be afraid of water to feel comfortable in the pool.

Admirers can be a tremendous force for conservatism.

I don’t really like labels in politics, but I will gladly accept the label of conservatism.

Conservatism leads nowhere; it satisfies no ideal.

I want to see popular free-market Conservatism where barriers are broken down, people have got more opportunities but keep more of their own money.

I do not know which makes a man more conservative – to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.

Conservatism has always been about reforming government and solving problems, and that’s why the conservative movement should lead on immigration reform.

Conservatism is not about leaving people behind. Conservatism is about empowering people to catch up, to give them the tools at their disposable that make it possible for them to access all the hope, all the promise, all the opportunity that America offers. And our programs to help them should reflect that.

In its worse forms, conservatism is a matter of ‘I hate strangers and anything that’s different.’