Quotes About Determination

When I decided to continue in the sport, I decided I would do whatever it takes to be the best figure skater I can be.

I'm never going to be the best skater, but I feel like I'm getting better.

You can be a great skater, you can have really good puck skills, but the ability to problem-solve is, to me, key.

When it comes down to competition, it's not always about the best skater, it's about who skates the best in that competition.

My parents put skates on me at age 2, the way it should be if you're serious, and I've always liked it.

A long time ago, a sports reporter wrote that I wasn't strong in the free-skate, that I was more of a short-program skater. And that bothered me because I work so hard every day just for a person to judge me on a couple of bad skates and deem me a bad free skater. That's absurd!

It's been said that, while growing up, I ate meals with my skates on. It's true.

'Thrasher' magazine's Skater of the Year is clearly my No. 1 goal. The only way I get that is skating. Other than that, I haven't set that many outrageous goals. If I got Skater of the Year, that would just really add to it all and make me feel really good. Whether it's this year, next year or five years from now, that is my goal.

That's the thing about ice skating, you can just fall awkwardly like that.

Skating is tough to pick up when you are a grown up.

Baseball is my true passion. Skating was more of a short-term goal.

Right now it looks like skating is done for me. I'm ready to move on. But if baseball doesn't work out and I still have that itch for skating, I may be back.

I begged my mom to let me start skating.

I remember my mom let me stay up late and watch Tara Lipinski and Michelle Kwan compete in the 1998 Olympic Games. I made paper medals and wore them the whole night. I didn't start skating until 2000, but I was so inspired by their skating that it was why I wanted to start.

And I love what I do and I love skating.

Skating was something I really wanted to do; my parents knew nothing about it. They said they'd support me as long as I was trying my hardest and enjoying it.

Skating taught me to set a goal and to block out other things and just focus on this one thing.

I started skating because I loved it. I started when I was three and I didn't know all the sacrifices and all the hardships and how difficult day-in and day-out it would be.

I was skating with friends in my neighborhood, and then eventually I was invited to go to the skate park with one of them. When I saw people flying all around - literally flying in and out of bowls - that is when I knew I wanted to do it. I wanted to figure out how I could get there and how I could fly.

The main thing for me now is figure skating, which I intend to devote more than one year.

Whenever I put myself out there on the line, skating against other people, I simply want to win.

I love skating. It's part of my life, and I never wanted to give it up.

Once I really understood what skating was and what the Olympic really entailed, I knew that's what I wanted to do: I wanted to be there; I wanted to represent the U.S.

I don't necessarily always feel happy when I'm skating.