Shaun White quotes:

There's always room for improvement, but the judges are looking for big airs and stylish tricks.

Snowboarding's tough, because you've got to go to the mountains. For me, I love the skateboard season because I get to hangout at home and still be skating. I don't have to travel to Norway or Japan or these crazy places to be snowboarding.

We all started snowboarding in the beginning as a family just to be closer together, go on trips. It was our soccer, but instead of Dad yelling at me from the sideline he is there riding with me and hitting the jumps even before I am hitting them.

I've always been under the impression that it would be such a bummer to be in a peaceful place like Hawaii or the tropics and be stressed about catching waves.

If skating got into the Olympics, I would be tempted to hold off on shredding for a year and just skate, to make that my new goal. In that sport, I'm still the underdog.

I get e-mails from mothers asking me to call their daughters for a date. I have a great life.

You take a crash, you get back up and next time you succeed and that's a great feeling.

It's tough now to meet a girl who wants to hang out with you because she likes your personality - who hasn't seen you on TV and is like, 'Hey!'

When you think about it, we're strapping strange planks of wood to our feet and launching off of giant snow walls. It's pretty intense.

You know the best thing about competition? There's this whole strategy game, and when it all works out its like solving that hard math equation. You finally get the answer and you're so happy.

Getting into music has changed my personality and way of doing things. I'm far more open now.

Everywhere I go I buy new music shirts.

I've reached my goal with snowboarding.

I mean, I get letters in the mail because I had a heart defect when I was one, I had surgeries and stuff. And so you get these letters in the mail that just, they are crazy, they are just like, yes, well our son is dealing with the same thing and we saw you on TV and I mean it is such a cool thing to inspire and kind of give hope.

It's hard to just kinda get some privacy and do your own thing.

I'm just having fun.

I was a monster, a problem child.

Boards and myself get along somehow.

I couldn't do my homework if my room wasn't clean. And it has carried on now that I am older, in a very freakish way.

I'm just going to keep dialing it in and keep practicing.

I wear black skinny-fit jeans - I can't get away from them. It's funny because I wore baggy jeans for ages, then one day my friend convinced me to try on a skinny pair and I thought they were great.

I always tell people that our sports aren't that dangerous.

I am a pretty recognizable, like, I walk through the airport or something, you are going to spot me right away.

I've always wanted to land a 1080, it's been a beast of a burden for me.

I think guitar is the best thing in the world.

My dad, he's the rocker.

I'd like to date, but I'm not really in a position to meet girls.

I've always been a guy who wants to play sports, not watch them.

I think everybody can agree that you can hear a certain song and it will put you in a certain mood, and that's just the beauty of music and I am so inspired by that.

I don't know, I think, in times where I'm really nervous, and I'm really under the pressure the worst possible outcome is for me to start thinking about it. I just do.

Surfers have the most attitude.

There's not really anywhere I can go without being recognized, but if I put my hair up, that cuts the crowd in half.

I can kind of picture what I want to do and my body just does it. You feel your way through a trick. I close my eyes sometimes.

I like to stay in the moment.

Cement doesn't give as much as snow.

I can't stay away from Chinese food. I really love that stuff.

I'm not too big on moisturisers and fancy skin products. I keep my grooming regime nice and simple.

I know my family and I would always go up to the mountains just for fun. We always skied. Then, all of a sudden, my brother started snow boarding. Older brother thing, I had to do what he was doing. So I started snow boarding.

I think the way to become the best is to just have fun.

I like being able to have things that identify you in a brand without blatantly showing a logo.

Generally, I'm a pretty mellow guy.

Games have always a big part of my life. I was that kid freaking out over his new Nintendo.

My mom was a waitress, and my dad was a plumber who worked for the City of San Clemente fixing mains breaks, so not too glamorous.

When I was 12 years old, I was hanging out with 23-year-olds. I was into cartoons and Pokemon, and they're all talking about girls. It was a strange way to grow up.

The Olympics is really awesome, but for some snowboarders, it's not the biggest thing in the world.

I was sponsored when I was about seven by Burton Snowboards.

You have to be prepared to take a spill.

I trip walking down the stairs, but I can skate them probably.

I wasn't your average kid. I was signing autographs in Japan at 12.

I was knocked out by a skateboarder when I was 11.

I think fans can tell if you just slap a skateboarder on a game - you can't fool kids.

The hardest thing about skateboarding is consistency: The slightest flick of your foot or gust of wind can send your board flying, so it's really anybody's game out there.

Usually the thing that signifies that I'm done with the winter and all that is that I start skateboarding.

Skateboarding helps a ton with balance, precision, with air awareness... it gets your senses to be spot-on and it's also a great way to take my mind off things.

Skateboarding is training, but I don't think of it as training. It's fun.

The Olympics are kind of weird. You have to be on a team. That's cool if you're a skier. But in snowboarding, you just want to be your own person.

I totally forget about snowboarding in the summertime.

I personally think skateboarding is harder because it has so many moving parts. With snowboarding, your feet are strapped to your board.

It's exciting to go from snowboarding to skateboarding because I get to start as the underdog again.

If you think I've got a lot of sponsors, you should see the stuff I turn down.

I'd love to try and get a summer and winter gold medal-that would be amazing.

Even at summer time, I'm still jacket shopping. I've always found that if you find a really nice leather jacket you kind of just go with it because they're timeless.

I'm on the road a lot so when I get some time to relax I definitely take advantage.

Having all eyes on me at all times is hard to deal with, but it's great. It feels like you've already accomplished something. It's already predetermined that you're going to do well.

There are plenty of skills I've learned from playing video games. It's more interactive than watching TV, because there are problems to solve as you're using your brain.

You show up at the Olympics, and you're no longer you; you're an American Olympian. You're part of this greater whole, and the individual doesn't matter.

Every time I've had a bad performance at an event, I've come back more determined and focused.

I like that you can easily flip the sheets over and have a different feel or vibe in your room. You don't have to go get a whole brand-new set of sheets.

If you go to a building to skate, or if you go to these places to skate, you're told it's against the law in some cities. It's definitely a bummer. It's unfortunate.

If you eat the same cereal every day it's gonna get old. And if I had thought about snowboarding every day, I would have quit a long time ago.

You can only jump so far until you break your leg. You can only land so hard until something explodes.

When I went pro at 13, I had plenty of sponsors that give me endorsement deals and stuff like that.

My dad got me a huge board when I was little. He loves to surf. He suited me up and sent me out on this huge wave. I went under, and when I came out and the board hit me in the face. So I said, I never wanted to do this again. I stayed away until I was 13.

If you're going off a 90-foot jump, you can't say: 'Oh, I don't want to do this now.' You're going no matter what.

I want to perform well.

Meeting actors and TV personalities is one thing, but I just feel like meeting musicians is the coolest.

A weird thing happens when you're taken out of your normal clothing and put into USA gear.

Ask anyone who knows me - I am constantly moving things around in my place.

Competition pushes me to improve. If I see someone do a big trick, I try it.

Having the balance to be able to stay on the board in skating and surfing gives you all-around much better balance.

Honestly, I feel really grateful for everything.

I am pretty bow-legged. It's annoying.

I can't really describe a trick as much as I just feel it.

I didn't set out to beat the world; I just set out to do my absolute best.

I didn't want to make a game unless I felt in the position to make something new and different.

I don't have any simple things. I only have things like a gold-studded leather jacket. Then I'm going to Hawaii and I'm asking myself "Do I pack it? It could be cold." I'm inventing scenarios where I could wear it.

I don't know where my first gold medal is.

I don't think the sport is any more dangerous than it's ever been.

I guess I'm an athlete now. I gotta start going to the gym.

I have the most fun snowboarding when it's just me and my brother.

I just want to be the guy that inspires other kids to come do what I'm doing.

I knew there was a certain level that I could get to within the sporting world. But as I continued with my career, not only did I grow, but the sport grew. All of a sudden, all of these doors opened to me. It's been amazing. I guess I was born at the right time.

I love the sport of snowboarding so much, but I just don't want to talk about it, ever.

I remember thinking that I'd way rather give my parents my money, and not have to like have them go to work anymore, you know what I mean. Because I'd way rather spend more time with them.

I usually eat a pretty big steak the night before I compete.

I was told from a very young age that I wasn't gonna be anything. That I wasn't gonna amount to a single thing.

I'd love to compete in the Summer Olympics.

If you do a trick and it doesn't work out, that can stick with you. I like to go back, nail the trick, and, 'OK, I'm cool, it's all good.'

I'm a big fan of doing what you are really bad at. A lot.

I'm proud of the U.S.A. We've done some amazing things. To wear our flag in the Olympics is an honor.

I'm really disappointed at every event if I don't do less than what I wanted to do.

It was hard to find a board my size. I was tiny.

It's a pretty heavy thing that happens to me when I'm at competitions. I get so sucked in, I can't really turn it off.

I've got to stand up for the sport.

I've had dreams about tricks.

My friends ask me why I still live with my family, but I feel comfortable there. We've all been through so much together.

Now that I have the knowledge and I can speak to programmers better and I understand a lot more about what's possible and what's not possible, this will all help with the next game,

On snowboarding as an Olympic sport: Since I was 6 years old I've been in the mix and watching this grow and change. I never would have expected it to go this far.

Skateboarding is a way to let your body control the mind.

Some people attach snowboards to their feet, very few attach them to their souls.

The boarding I do is pretty strenuous and because I'm so active I really don't have to work out too often.

Trick names are so ridiculous!

United [Airlines] sucks, man. I've got like a million miles and they never bump me to first class because they think I'm just a kid and give the seat to some schmoozy guy in a business suit.

What does it mean to be a snowboarder? It's about having fun, with your friends or by yourself. It's about pushing yourself to try new things and do the unexpected. Finally, and most importantly, it's about being creative.

What drives me now is the fact that I feel like I still have so many tricks that I want to learn and so many things that I can still do. And so many cool things outside of sports that I have been doing.

When I came back to skating, everyone was like 'Oh you're the snowboard guy.'

When I'm on planes, I'd talk to people and I'd tell them I compete in the X Games. Some would know what it was, but maybe half didn't. But everyone knows about the Olympics. They're really like the X Games for the world!

When kids come up to me and say. 'I want to be like you,' it fires me up. It's pretty cool.

When the pressure's on, I always seem to go bigger and land everything better.

Whenever I do a deal I always have the right of approval.