Dan Gable

“Once you've wrestled, everything else in life is easy.”

“Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.”

“The first period is won by the best technician. The second period is won by the kid in the best shape. The third period is won by the kid with the biggest heart.”

“I shoot, I score. He shoots, I score.”

“If you're afraid to fail, you'll never succeed.”

“More enduringly than any other sport, wrestling teaches self-control and pride. Some have wrestled without great skill - none have wrestled without pride.”

“When you're number one, you don't play for the tie.”

“My valleys are higher than most people's peaks.”

“The obvious goals were there - State Champion, NCAA Champion, Olympic Champion. To get there I had to set an everyday goal which was to push myself to exhaustion or find exhaustion.”

“I'm a big believer in starting with high standards and raising them.”

“If you want to be the best, you have to do things that other people aren't willing to do.”

“Pain is nothing compared to what it feels like to quit.”

“You get better on the days when you don't want to go, but you go anyway.”

“When I'd get tired and want to stop, I'd wonder what my next opponent was doing. I'd wonder if he was still working out.”

“Hard work pays off.”

“There’s always ways of motivating yourself to higher levels. Write about it, dream about it. But after that, turn it into reality.”

“The mind is the most important part of achieving any goal.”

“After I won a match, my job was to forget about it. It was on to the next one.”