Quotes About Dedication

My dad supported me by working extra hours and giving me a little bit of extra money. He bought my camper van for me so I could go into Europe and drive from competition to competition.

I saw Ashley train every day and I said, 'This is what I want but better.' That was my motivation. He taught me the game, how to play nicely and sometimes dirty, all those kind of things. But I didn't become Ashley Cole. I'm Patrick van Aanholt.

We never set out to be this punk rock band that's going to stay small and tour in a van forever. We wanted to take our band to a level where we could do everything we want to do.

I already worked with Van Gaal before at the Under-20 team back in 2001. He hasn't changed much as a coach since. He really stands out.

Van Aert is an example to me anyway. When I was still playing football, I watched the races and the cross races. In that world, he was an idol to me.

I always liked the Van Gogh story because I was terribly involved in that.

Van Gogh cut off his ear for his art. I'm not tryin' to cut off my ear. I'm not humiliating myself.

My heroes were Eddie Van Halen - especially after Van Halen I, II, III, and IV - Randy Rhoads, Ace Frehley and dudes like that. My brother played drums and we jammed in the garage and started writing our own stuff.

When Van Halen started out, there was no path to fame. We just played what we liked. Even today it always comes down to the simplicity of rock and roll.

When I was 13, I was just figuring out how to play 'Eruption,' poorly, by Eddie Van Halen.

I think all my albums have concentrated on songs, I've never taken the typical Van Halen route to try and become a guitar hero.

My grade 3 teacher put on a kids' Christmas concert, and I played the kazoo, so my mother bought me a trumpet. I took lessons for eight years, was in the Kitsilano Boys Band, and I played in the Vancouver Junior Symphony for two years.

There were days when I was literally running for hours in the forest and then I'd jump on a plane and then I'd be on the 'Nurse Jackie' set. I was going from Vancouver to New York every three days. For me, it was really invigorating.

It's what I do my entire life when I'm not doing music. If I'm in a hotel room in Sweden, or on a plane to Vancouver, I'm watching football. I'll try to talk about other stuff, too, but football is a lifestyle.

The real issue is not talent as an independent element, but talent in relationship to will, desire, and persistence. Talent without these things vanishes and even modest talent with those characteristics grows.

If you're concentrating so damn hard on a piece of mathematics or a musical - a piece of music or a piece of art, the restraint that holds the rest of - the rest of the world back off and vanishes in the rest of your life.

If I'm really rolling with a short story, I work on it everywhere and end up with a finished draft in a couple months, but a novel really demands that I step out of my life and vanish into the world of the book.

I ended up breaking a bone in my foot early in my rookie season, and honestly, it was kind of a blessing. I had so much free time while being laid up that I put a lot of time in on film to understand the game from a different vantage point.

For me, whatever vantage point that I'm serving, I'm going to be an advocate and do the work to actualize my values.

Show business people aren't vapid.

Making movies is really hard. It's a very complex process, with many, many variables.

In skating there's always another jump or another spin variation or another thing to learn, and that's what I liked about it.

I never think that I have to be at top every time. Obviously, I have to do well in every game and series; that's what I try to do. I try to improve and work on the swing and variation in my bowling.

I admire the work of brilliant actresses such as Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Helen Mirren, who have had such varied careers. They have never stopped working, and they are as great today as they ever were.