“Skating was a gift given to me, and it's a sport I love. I go out there every single day and there isn't a day I don't want to be out there”

“If I have given my all and still do not win, I haven't lost. Others might remember winning or losing; I remember the journey.”

“Who else, when we stepped to the line in Torino, was going to be so mentally tough? Who else would have proven to himself that he could do anything he set out to do? In a sport that was always one tick away from being entirely out of control, who else would have done everything he could to take charge of the things he could-and should- control to put himself in position to excel?”

“Passion is the spark for everything. By itself, passion is never enough. Just like talent is never enough. But it's your fire starter.Without passion, you won't do something 100 percent. That's the bottom line.And what's the point of doing something if you're not doing it 100 percent?”

“Anna Petrovna: Kolya, my dearest, stay at home.Ivanov: My love, my unhappy darling, I beg you, don't stop me going out in the evenings. It's cruel and unjust on my part, but let me commit that injustice. It's an agony for me at home. As soon as the sun disappears, my spirit begins to be weighed down by depression. What depression! Don't ask why. I myself don't know. I swear by God's truth I don't know. Here I'm in anguish, I go to the Lebedevs and there it's still worse; I return from there and here it's depression again, and so all night... Simply despair!”

“Any idiot can face a crisis; it's this day-to-day living that wears you out.”

“Lvov: I need to have a candid talk with you, Nikolay Alekseyevich.Ivanov: Doctor, if we're going to have a candid talk every day, I haven't the strength for it.”