I'm at the depot, and I'm not going anywhere. That's better to deal with than having to deal with the unknown. And the unknown is they don't want to fail. They don't want to pay the price unless there's a guarantee they're going to get there.

One of the most difficult things for people who have been successful in sports is adapting to the daily world where you can't get an answer from someone until 5 o'clock tomorrow. There is always an excuse. Living 40 or 50 years like that doesn't get too exciting after a while.

My biggest loss was the Olympics. I just can't forget losing. I never will.

It has nothing to do with swimming. That happens to be my sport. I'm trying to see how far I can go.

Life is true to form; records are meant to be broken.

Do any exercise you want as long as you’re willing to do it. You see gym equipment on TV advertisements all the time, but guess what? It’s only good if you actually use it.

There are times I might coach one or two workouts a year when the regular coach gets caught in traffic.

The pool is terrible, but that doesn’t have much to do with my record swims. That’s all mental attitude.

If he wins seven golds and ties what I did, then it would be like I was the first man on the moon and he became the second. If he wins more than seven, then he becomes the first man on Mars. We’d both be unique.

One of the most difficult things for people who have been successful in sports is adapting to the daily world where you can’t get an answer from someone until 5 o’clock tomorrow. There is always an excuse. Living 40 or 50 years like that doesn’t get too exciting after a while.