“My approach to the races hasn’t changed in my 20-year career. If I have the chance to attack and to pass, I do it, trying to get the best possible result.”

The speed is something dangerous but very exciting.

It is dangerous and unbelievably fast and entirely different from the kind of track I am used to racing on.

You try to do a technical feature: in front of me I had a strong rider who brakes hard and it’s difficult to pass.

I am completely focused on being strong, riding fast, and enjoying myself. With the new generation of riders, only the chronometer counts. I need to be faster than them on track.

Riding a race bike is an art – a thing that you do because you feel something inside.

Giving yourself threads doesn’t mean you don’t believe in yourself in my opinion.

We kept on racing, doing something that Luis [Salom] loved. Fortunately or unfortunately, life goes on.

The tragic incident of Luis Salom reminds us that our sport, our passion, is dangerous. We know it but, in a way, we don’t think about it.

I like physical exercise. I actually like sports in general. I really like snowboarding and playing soccer, too.

Once the races begin it’s more difficult and there is never that much time for testing.

I’m Valentino Rossi. And I want to be a person, not an icon.

Also, when I started racing he knew a lot of people and it was more easy for me to find the first bike, so I have a good chance for sure.

The work that we do during the winter is very important; we have a new bike and it’s important to develop it during this time.

Fortunately during my career I have won more or less everything, so I need to enjoy it to have the right motivation.

In 2002 the Yamaha was at more or less the same level as the Honda, better in some ways, worse in others. But in the winter of last year between 2002 and 2003, Honda made a big step forward and it seemed as if Yamaha couldn’t quite match that improvement.

Barcelona is a special track. I have always loved the layout of the circuit, but also the atmosphere and the fans are special. It has always been good fun.

I believe [the architecture firm] Herzog and de Meuron and our collaboration made the product the best it could be.

We don’t work like the best basketball player and the best musician and so on. Science is a collective effort.

Invest in basic research and recruit the best minds.

When they called me with the Nobel call from Secretary General of the Swedish Academy it was twenty minutes to six and he said well that was well hope I’m not disturbing you but I am the Secretary General of the Swedish Academy.

The best thing about Berlin was that I got to be surrounded by people who pursue their ideas for themselves.

The worst in life, we are told, is compatible with the best in art. So too the worst in life is compatible with the best in humour.

Where the sky begins, the horizon ends, despite the best intentions.

Don’t do your best, do whatever it takes.