Boris Becker

When I was a child, I had posters of James Dean in my room. I was a big admirer of his work and was fascinated by him living on the edge. Looking back, my life was kind of the same.

That’s the hard part about sport: as men we haven’t started to be in our prime, but as athletes we are old people. I needed support. I lost trust and did stupid things.

I’m not a God, I make mistakes.

An autobiography is not about pictures; it’s about the stories; it’s about honesty and as much truth as you can tell without coming too close to other people’s privacy.

Every time you are not practicing someone else is.

Where do you go when you’re the best in the world? What’s next?

At this very moment, you may be saying to yourself that you have any number of admirable qualities. You are a loyal friend, a caring person, someone who is smart, dependable, fun to be around. That’s wonderful, and I’m happy for you, but let me ask you this: are you being any of those things to yourself?

There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.

Worry is the most wasteful thing in the world.

I appreciate a lot in this life; the things you cannot buy. Life is only once. I am happy being here and all the things that are a risk I normally avoid.

I haven’t put a pencil to a piece of paper, working out a problem, in years; I do it in my head.

Time is what we want most, but what we use worst.

If you wish to clear away the clouds of thought, simply keep your mind in the present.

I am looking for a lot of men who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.

Better contraceptives will control population only if people will use them. A nuclear holocaust can be prevented only if the conditions under which nations make war can be changed. The environment will continue to deteriorate until pollution practices are abandoned. We need to make vast changes in human behavior.

Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs, write poetry and even whittle statues. The story of civilization is what happened on the banks.

If you become a teacher, by your pupils you’ll be taught.

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge.

It was like being in the eye of a hurricane. You’d wake up in a concert and think, Wow, how did I get here?

If you are not criticized, you may not be doing much.