60+ Inspirational Michael Phelps Quotes [2024] Most Successful Olympian Swimmer

Updated: January 20th, 2022

Michael Phelps is an American Former Competitive Swimmer and the Most Successful Male Olympian in American history.

Phelps holds the all-time record for Olympic gold medals as a Swimmer. He is the most successful Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals and won the highest Olympic gold medals in individual events.

We've put together an incredible collection of Michael Phelps quotes to read.

Here they are:

60+ Inspirational Michael Phelps Quotes [2024] Most Successful Olympian Swimmer

List of Inspiring Michael Phelps Quotes

“I have always been fortunate in that I’ve been able to put myself in my own zone and relax. It comes naturally. I’m lucky to be that way” -- Michael Phelps


“I am 26 and, and I don’t recover as fast as I have in the past.” -- Michael Phelps


“I have had extreme ups and downs. The biggest thing I learned after I broke my wrist is to never give up. Nothing in life will ever come easy. It depends on how you deal with those obstacles and how you overcome those obstacles. If you can overcome them, you’re a stronger person. If you make mistakes along the way, as long as you never make that same mistake again, you’re a successful person.” -- Michael Phelps


“For recovery, I think it’s a big deal to eat within a half-hour after you exercise. Otherwise, I just try to put carbs into my system before I swim and then load up on the protein after. I don’t count calories. Whether it’s Sour Patch Kids or Reese’s or a bag of chips, if I feel like eating it, I’m going to eat it.” -- Michael Phelps


“I would visualize the best- and worst-case scenarios. Whether I get disqualified or my goggles fill up with water or I lose my goggles or I come in last, I’m ready for anything.” -- Michael Phelps


“One thing with me, and every goal I’ve had – in the sport of swimming, my mother didn’t know my goals. The only person that knew my goals were my coaches.” -- Michael Phelps


“There will be obstacles. There will be doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work… THERE ARE NO LIMITS.” -- Michael Phelps


“It’s the Olympics. If you can’t get up to swim early in the morning, don’t go.” -- Michael Phelps


“Things can change in the blink of an eye!” -- Michael Phelps


“I always thought, it would be neat to make the Olympic team.” -- Michael Phelps


“Nothing is impossible. With so many people saying it couldn’t be done, all it takes is an imagination.” -- Michael Phelps


“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.” -- Michael Phelps


“Other nights, I visualize to the point that I know exactly what I want to do: dive, glide, stroke, flip, reach the wall, hit the split time to the hundredth, then swim back again for as many times as I need to finish the race.” -- Michael Phelps


“When I’m focused, there is not one single thing, person, anything that can stand in the way of my doing something. There is not. If I want something bad enough, I feel I’m gonna get there.” -- Michael Phelps


“Eat, sleep and swim, that’s all I can do.” -- Michael Phelps


“I’m pretty lazy. My wife always says, “you’re the laziest, most successful Olympian I’ve ever seen.” How does that make sense? Honestly, if I have downtime, I’m really, really good at not doing anything.” -- Michael Phelps


“Swimming is more than a once-every-four-years sport. My goal is to bring attention to swimming – to give it some personality.” -- Michael Phelps


“You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.” -- Michael Phelps


“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.” -- Michael Phelps


“Anything is possible as long as you want it, you work for it. Doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, the only person that can really put pressure on you is yourself” -- Michael Phelps


“If you look at me, basically my whole entire life I’ve been around water. So when you look at a stat like, “If you leave the faucet running for two minutes while you brush your teeth you waste four gallons of water,” to me that’s mind-blowing. There are so many people that don’t even have access to clean water, and people leave their faucets running. For me it was something that fit with things that I believe in.” -- Michael Phelps


“Perseverance, determination, commitment, and courage-those things are real. The desire for redemption drives you.” -- Michael Phelps


“I have been able to get an excitement back in the water.” -- Michael Phelps


“Things won’t go perfect. It’s all about how you adapt from those things and learn from mistakes.” -- Michael Phelps


“We’re all a little tired.” -- Michael Phelps


“Every day is different and every day brings something more exciting.” -- Michael Phelps


“The more you dream the more you achieve.” -- Michael Phelps


“We need to make seeing a therapist more accessible; we’ve got to crack down on this and allow people the opportunity to seek help. It’s going to be a game-changer. I would love people to become more vulnerable and reach out and ask for help. I would never want somebody to go through the feelings I had, almost exactly three years ago, of not wanting to be alive. That’s a scary thing, and to think of where I am today compared to that – that’s way bigger than winning a gold medal.” -- Michael Phelps


“I feel like Aaron brings out the best in me” -- Michael Phelps


“I always have on my headphones to block out all of the other distractions and I’m just focused on doing the best that I can…. There are a few of them … DMX Party Up … Mack 10 BC and Ice Cube Connected for Life. I also listen to the Eminem CD …whichever song really gets me going that night” -- Michael Phelps


“Our time on Earth is already short enough. For me, it’s like every single day I try to be as happy as I can. It’s crazy to think about. We never have enough time. That’s always the thing. We always want to do more. So it’s about being able to spend time on the things that are most important to you. Life is a lot easier that way, and obviously, life is pretty difficult a lot of the time.” -- Michael Phelps


“I try to separate my personal life from swimming.” -- Michael Phelps


“When you use your imagination anything can happen.” -- Michael Phelps


“So many people along the way, whatever it is you aspire to do, will tell you it can’t be done. But all it takes is imagination. You dream. You plan. You reach. There will be obstacles. There will doubters. There will be mistakes. But with hard work, with belief, with confidence and trust in yourself and those around you, there no limits.” -- Michael Phelps


“If you put your mind to anything that you dream, you can achieve it.” -- Michael Phelps


“People say to me, ‘You’re so lucky. You get to see the world.’ But I don’t. I go to the hotel and to the pools and back again. That’s it.” -- Michael Phelps


“Obviously for water safety, you want to learn just to be comfortable in the water; that’s the main goal. I think the second that you start freaking out and feeling uncomfortable, it’s not going to go well.” -- Michael Phelps


“Records are always made to be broken no matter what they are. Anybody can do anything that they set their mind to.” -- Michael Phelps


“It doesn’t matter what else is going on. When you walk into your arena or your – whatever you excel at, you’re there to take care of the job that you have to do.” -- Michael Phelps


“I think to be – for me to be an American is – you know, it’s one of the greatest things in the world for – you know, for me just because I’ve been able to grow up with everything. The freedom. You know, in my eyes this is the greatest country in the world.” -- Michael Phelps


“Nobody is going to put a limit on what I’m doing.” -- Michael Phelps


“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.” -- Michael Phelps


“Dream as big as you can dream, and anything is possible.” -- Michael Phelps


“I got the stamina. I can close.” -- Michael Phelps


“Being able to do something that’s never been done before, that’s what I’ve always wanted to do. There was nothing that was going to stand in my way of being the first.” -- Michael Phelps


“At a very young age, I wrote down the goals that I had so I could always see what I wanted to accomplish. And I would look at that goal sheet and think “I still want to do this.”So I’d decide “I’m not quitting.”" -- Michael Phelps


“I knew I was not a failure in any way, and so did those close to me. It doesn’t matter if you fall short; it is never a failure to go after your goals with everything you’ve got.” -- Michael Phelps


“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.” -- Michael Phelps


“I think with practice, you can being whatever you want to be, and with a goal, you can go in any direction that you want to go in.” -- Michael Phelps


“I won’t predict anything historic. But nothing is impossible.” -- Michael Phelps


“I think goals should never be easy, they should force you to work, even if they are uncomfortable at the time.” -- Michael Phelps


“I feel most at home in the water. I disappear. That’s where I belong.” -- Michael Phelps


“I can’t remember the last day I didn’t train.” -- Michael Phelps


“The one thing that’s common to all successful people: They make a habit of doing things that unsuccessful people don’t like to do.” -- Michael Phelps


“I want to test my maximum and see how much I can do. And I want to change the world of swimming.” -- Michael Phelps


“It’s not how you start, but it’s how you finish.” -- Michael Phelps


“If you want to be the best you have to do things that other people aren’t willing to do.” -- Michael Phelps


“If you say “can’t” you’re restricting what you can do or ever will do.” -- Michael Phelps


“The problem with heart disease is the first symptom is often fatal.” -- Michael Phelps


“If I didn’t swim my best, I’d think about it at school, at dinner, with my friends. It would drive me crazy.” -- Michael Phelps


“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.” -- Michael Phelps


“I wanted to do something nobody ever did. This goes hand in hand with my goal of changing swimming.” -- Michael Phelps

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