"You can't put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get."
"If you want to be the best, you have to do things that other people aren't willing to do."
"If I didn't swim my best, I'd think about it at school, at dinner, with my friends. It would drive me crazy."
"I have reached a place in my life where I need to sit down and say, 'Well, what do I do? What's best for me?' I need to look into options for the future."
"I always thought, it would be neat to make the Olympic team."
"There is a one woman in China that claimed she paid $50 to get my e-mail address. It was pretty shocking. I got one this morning from Scotland. A girl's requesting a signed photo of me."
"I want to be able to look back and say, 'I've done everything I can, and I was successful.' I don't want to look back and say I should have done this or that. I'd like to change things for the younger generation of swimmers coming along."
"Being compared to Ian Thorpe, that could be one of the greatest compliments you could ever get in swimming - being compared to him and Mark Spitz."
"Every day after I wake up, I think, 'Wait... this can't be real; I'm still going to wake up.'"
"I want to test my maximum and see how much I can do. And I want to change the world of swimming."
"I have the opportunity to be part of swimming history. To take the sport to a new level would be an honor for me. There's no better time to try this than now."
"I'm the same kind of guy before all this happened."
"I won't predict anything historic. But nothing is impossible."
"I think that everything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and you put the work and time into it. I think your mind really controls everything."
"My goal is one Olympic gold medal. Not many people in this world can say, 'I'm an Olympic gold medalist.'"
"Swimming is normal for me. I'm relaxed. I'm comfortable, and I know my surroundings. It's my home."
"I wouldn't say anything is impossible. I think that everything is possible as long as you put your mind to it and put the work and time into it."
"Once I'm already in my room, I still have to open a door to get into my bed. It's like a giant box. It's like the boy in a bubble."
"There were times I wouldn't come to practice, because it didn't excite me. It wasn't interesting. I was kind of going through the motions."
"I think sometimes I guess you see records, say you want to get there and use that as motivation. In a way, it's kind of cool if there is a possibility to rewrite history and be up there with the greats of Olympic history."
"I think goals should never be easy, they should force you to work, even if they are uncomfortable at the time."
"This is my 20th year in the sport. I've known swimming and that's it. I don't want to swim past age 30; if I continue after this Olympics, and come back in 2016, I'll be 31. I'm looking forward to being able to see the other side of the fence."
"I believe in God; I'm not saying I'm highly religious."
"I used to always go to church on holidays, but I don't go much any more."
"I live a pretty conservative life, so I probably really haven't done anything crazy."
