"Why did I ride when I had cancer? Cycling is so hard, the suffering is so intense, that it’s absolutely cleansing. You can go out there with the weight of the world on your shoulders, and after a six hour ride at a high pain threshold, you feel at peace. The pain is so deep and strong that a curtain descends over your brain. At least for a while you have a kind of hall pass, and don't have to brood on your problems; you can shut everything else out, because the effort and subsequent fatigue are absolute." - Lance Armstrong
"Sticking with the 'unwritten plan' when the dark realization dawns that you've bitten off much more than you can chew, is the true test of one's resolve." - Rob Fusco
"To keep from decaying, to be a winner, the athlete must accept pain - not only accept it, but look for it, live with it, learn not to fear it" - Dr George Skeehan
"The real tragedy is the tragedy of the man who never in his life braces himself for his one supreme effort, who never stretches to his full capacity, never stands up to his full stature" - Arnold Bennett
"All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you're not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you're the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. They will tell you no, a thousand times no, until all the no's become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly.....and you will tell them yes." - Nike ad
"The nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools." –Thucydides
Just saw this posted on another forum and found it motivating.