Troy Polamalu Quotations | Page 2

I try to take what's given to me and then mold it to be a better football player.

There are very few sports where you can find that tranquility. Some people find that in golf, but when you're in the water it's such a difference from the golf course or the basketball court. That's what makes surfing unique over any other sport.

I work barefooted on balance plates. I do explosive squats on balance surfaces that your body has to use muscles it's not used to. It's all kinds of exercises that your body isn't really used to, and it tricks your body into getting stronger every time.

Fighters are raised into MMA. It's more about what's internal, not what's God given. When you have a great fighter like Rickson Gracie or Fedor Emelianenko-they're greater than the others because they have an internal spiritual being that separates them from the rest in their craft. They have the warrior spirit.

I've been surfing for a couple years, in the offseason in California and in Hawaii. I'm not very good, but it's just something that to be out there in the water, no cell phone, no music... very few sports are as pure as that.

I really enjoy surfing a lot. It's an awesome sport. With surfing there are no mind games versus Peyton Manning, or versus anyone else. It's not me trying to throw a certain shot put further - or to put a ball in a hoop, it's just me against mother nature.

It's important for me to have strong hair in case someone pulls it and tries to rip it all out.

I think it's important to cross train. Surfing is a good cross training sport for your shoulders. I don't think I know of any other football player who does it, who can go and paddle out past the sets.

I do have a trophy room-it's in my attic, in boxes.

Three English bulldogs count for one kid.

It's the perfect environment for prayer. Chanting in Greek is like a beautiful opera, but way better.

I've always been a very self-aware person.

The Coca-Cola Mean Joe Greene ad is one of the most famous commercials of all time, so I was blown away when they asked me to be in this new spot.

Being compared to the greatest-ever safety is pretty ridiculous. I continue to work toward that, but I'm not there and I know that.

The greatest joy I get is setting up plays for somebody else. I take a lot of pride in helping other people make plays.

The greatest thing for me football-wise is that it's a test of will.

Being patient ... and not becoming too stressed out over the big plays, those are the things to remember.

I take pride in my life-my wife, my family. I try my best not to have football define the person that I am.

America needs football. It's a real blue-collar sport; it's played with a blue-collar mentality, a mentality that's the backbone of this country.

Throughout history, every great warrior-the Greeks, the Samurais, the American Indians, the Mongolians, you name it-had long hair and would dress it before battle.

On the field is a place where you can just let it loose and react to everything with violence.

I have read the Bible many times. But after fasting, and being baptized Orthodox, it's like reading a whole new Bible. You see the depth behind the words so much more clearly.

In football, you're taught to react by being aggressive, taught to react with violence. If you can't separate that on the field and off the field, you're going to be in a lot of trouble in your life.

I know where I'm supposed to be at the time of the snap. Now, where the play dictates I'm going to go is a different story.

Orthodox chanting is non-emotional, it's very monotone,

As a territory, American Samoa has no representation in the U.S. Senate, and we Samoans lost a respected and powerful ally with the passing of Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye.

Material things aren't important to me.

Football is pretty much played 16 times a year, where training is kind of a year-round thing.

Football doesn’t define me. It’s what I do [and] how I carry out my faith.

We're a road team. We're the Pittsburgh Steelers. We have fans everywhere.

The barefoot component of my training is about strengthening the toes.

A big hit is all part of the game. If you want to make a lot of big hits, you forget about the one you just made and move onto the next one.

Some days I'm just flipping through the iPod trying to get pumped, some days I don't want to listen to anything and just focus. From game to game from day to day, whatever people do to motivate themselves, they do. I do all kinds of things.

Any time you can squeeze out the opportunity to get better, you should.

I don't think I have a split personality. I believe the same person I am on the field is the same person I am at home - passionate about everything I do, whether it's reading a Bible or just hanging out with my wife.

I always try to sacrifice my body for the team.

God has control over everything, and obviously, everything to everyone is god-given.

Some of us might not understand why LeBron James is the way he is, but fortunately he found his great craft in life.