Diana Nyad

You don't simply tell someone to get out there and win the tennis match. You say 'move your feet' or 'watch the fuzz on the ball' to really get into the Zen of it. You pull all that together, and then you just might hold up the Wimbledon Plate... It's not about winning first place but bringing every element of effort to whatever you do. ”

About the 50th hour, I was going to start thinking about the edge of the universe. Is there an edge? Is this an envelope we're living inside of, or no, does it go onto infinity in both time and space? And there's nothing like swimming for 50 hours in the ocean that gets you thinking about things like this. ”

This journey has always been about reaching your own other shore no matter what it is, and that dream continues. ”

Swimming is probably the ultimate of burnout sports. It's ironic because millions of people who swim as their regular exercise love the meditation aspect of it; you don't wind up with any orthopedic injuries. But when you swim at a world class level for hours and hours - the loneness of the long distance runner. ”

It's been a grand, elevating, life-confirming experience these last two years. ”

I've never been in any pain, ever, like that in my whole life. Now it's set me so far back, I just don't' have the lung capacity to swim the way I can. ”

All of us suffer difficulties in our lives. And if you say to yourself 'find a way,' you'll make it through. ”

But for each of us, isn't life about determining your own finish line? ”

There's so much boldness in living life this way, and we did it all, and no one can take it away from us. ”

Write that novel. Start that business you've always wanted to. The ultimate high of life is the commitment to pursuing something. ”