“My mom was a great tennis player, and I remember being six or seven years old watching Steffi Graf and Monica Seles in Wimbledon in my house. I’ve always been a tennis fan.”

I’ve always been privileged to play for Coach Belichick, who I’ve always said is the best coach in the history of the league.

We all have experiences in our lives that change us, and we all learn from people, like my dad, but at the end of the day, it’s only us. And we’re only responsible to make ourselves happy.

It’s never come easy for me. I don’t think my mind allows me to rest ever. I have, I think, a chip on my shoulder, and some deep scars that I don’t think were healed.

I don’t think there’s a lot of carry-over from year to year. I don’t think anybody cares what you did the year before.

Everyone is dealing with something. This is life; this is not just a piece of cake.

I don’t want to wake up and be bored. That’s probably my greatest fear is to have nothing to do. What better job is there than to play quarterback for an NFL team, and certainly one that I’ve been on for a long time and had success with? I don’t plan on giving it up any time soon.

I’m not squeezing the balls. That’s not part of my process.

You put all the other stuff aside and go out and do your job, and mine is to be the best I can be for my teammates.

As an athlete, when you are on that field and the fans get really engaged and you can feel their energy and passion and true love of the game, it is absolutely a spiritual experience.

Man, wear your seat belts. That’s all I can tell everybody. You never know.

With football, you can have up to 28 guys you consider starters, and if they can pick up the slack when some aren’t playing so well, you don’t have to turn those two-game losing streaks into six-game losing streaks.

I think sometimes in life the biggest challenges end up being the best things that happen in your life.

Football is unconditional love.

Fortunately for a quarterback, you can play for a long time because you don’t get hit very often.

I think it’s a feeling like I’ve got it all figured out. There’s nothing that can shock me anymore. There’s nothing I haven’t anticipated; so at that point, there is a calmness.

I think you can just go out and try to be the best you can be, deal with people with respect, with honesty, with integrity, have a high moral standard. I’ve always really tried to exemplify that as an athlete. I’ll continue to try to do that.

Utility is the great idol of the age, to which all powers must do service and all talents swear allegiance.

The greater part of humanity is too much harassed and fatigued by the struggle with want, to rally itself for a new and sterner struggle with error.

Kenny Burrell is overall the greatest guitarist in the world and he’s my favorite.

Of all the possessions of this life fame is the noblest; when the body has sunk into the dust the great name still lives.

I think we learn some of the greatest lessons in life from animals, whether it’s love, suffering, or the value of silence.

There is an energy which springs from sickness and debility: it has a more powerful effect than the real, but, sadly, expires in an even greater infirmity.

My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.

There is no greater reward than working from your heart and making a difference in the world.