The true measure of strength is through a squat and deadlift.

I usually eat whatever I want... about 5,000 to 7,000 calories a day.

Your political views should be your political views. I believe in business being non-partisan.

At one point in my life, I thought getting old was a bad thing. Then I realized that the prestige, the respect, and the honor that people hold you at for being able to do anything for 20 years is well worth it.

I had vied for a championship; I had been involved in being a No. 1 contender, and having runs where I got close but I never got there. Being able to finally get there and be the guy to carry the load and carry it for a while, I felt like I arrived, and it validated my career.

The more you shine, the more positively people start looking at you.

I've always been a big guy. I weighed 220 pounds in the 5th grade.

A lot of athletes are stuck on themselves and don't want to socialize and that kind of thing. When I see that, I hate it.

Daniel Bryan is one of my favorite wrestlers - as a talent, as an entertainer, the way our fans love and revere him. There's never been a match he and I have been in where it was bad.

I was an unusually big kid for my age and did not know how to express myself after being targeted as the odd one out. I thus landed myself in trouble for reacting aggressively. But with time, I succeeded as an athlete and people started respecting me.

I was the first WWE developmental talent. When I moved to Connecticut to start training, I had no idea what wrestling was other than what I saw as a fan.

Being 19 years old and making the Olympic team on my last lift. I went 6-for-6 and had a perfect Olympic trial. Making the team and being one of the youngest to ever go to the Olympics was pretty special.

I want to be known as a great dad more than anything.

To know that you will be in the International Sports Hall of Fame and that people for hundreds of years will know who you are and what you did, it means everything.

It's humbling how my peers view me as not only one of the best Olympic power and weightlifters, but as an athlete.

I wasn't always 6' 4'' and 400 pounds.

The only thing better than winning a gold medal is going to Heaven.

Oh, I was a big Tony Atlas fan. I think I tried to throw my first dropkick because of Tony - and almost broke my shoulder.

What I want to be is James Bond.

I always try to enjoy the moment.

I have a good sense of humor. I'm not Martin Lawrence by any means. I'm a little too country to be Chris Rock. But I fancy myself as being somebody with a good sense of humor.

At one point, I remember throwing Jerry Lawler so hard that he didn't touch either rope. He just went straight through and hit the barricade.

There's a lot to being a weightlifter. People think it's all brute strength. But it takes strength, quickness, flexibility, and technique. And it can cause a lot of stress.

Oh my God, if you're talking terrible theme songs, you have to mention Matt Hardy. I can't understand what they're even saying. There's a point in Matt Hardy's song where it sounds like they say 'I want to meet the cheese.' I'm always like, 'Meet the cheese?' Just goofy stuff.

Personally, I had no confines: there were no bounds, no boundaries that I felt when I got in the ring.

Daniel Bryan is a good athlete, but he's a better entertainer.

John Cena has granted more wishes than anybody in history. He goes the extra mile.

I believe in freedom of speech. I believe people have the right to say whatever they want to say. As long as they're ready to own what they say. Because there's a price to pay when you say something that's against the grain that is not correct.

It may be the swansong of my wrestling career, but definitely not the end of Mark Henry!

I've had matches go 38 minutes. To be able to move for 38 minutes and have somebody's life in your hands is a difficult thing.

Randy Orton is one of the people in the industry I respect the most. Not many people can be as smooth and polished in the ring as Randy is, and still be over with the fans, and he is one of the very best in the industry.

Wrestling isn't like ballet; it's not about practicing a routine. You need to focus. You need to concentrate. You need to know your craft.

Wrestling went from being sometimes comical to very serious, and there was a lot of depth regarding the vastness in which people performed.

I'm not fat. There's a difference between being big and being fat.

I remember being in a situation where everybody, as much as they loved seeing Jerry Lawler's gimmick, they loved to hate him. That's one of the things I learned early on, that if you're going to be in a situation where you're taking on a dominant competitor, you have to get to the point where you love to be hated, if that is what is required.

It was an unbelievable experience to be in the ring with Jerry Lawler, one of the biggest wrestlers of all time.

Learn how to humble yourself, and be able to take advice and not feel like you know everything.

I'm more on the bigger side, so people don't think I have speed. I'm not the fastest guy, but I guarantee I'm not the slowest.

I was kind of sheltered. I grew up in Silsbee, Texas, a town of 3,000 people.

I'd like to be a tag titleholder, I'd like to be the WWE champion, but more than anything, I want to make guys leaders.

My kids are jaded, spoiled, entitled as hell.

I was called everything ugly and black in the world. Man, those where some tough times. They called me Fat Albert, Magilla Gorilla, black ape. It all hurt.

You can't be a champion and look like a bum. You have to look, and be, the part. It's not just because it's required of your job, but is important to how you hold yourself.

Black culture - we dance and sing. We're entertainers. James Brown said it best: the things we are make people want to be like us.

Nobody will ever top Owen Hart. Owen was like a brother to me. I loved him so much because he made me laugh harder than anyone's made me laugh in my life.

Indian wrestlers definitely have a place in the industry.

Originally, nobody knew John Cena rapped. It was just something he did in the car. I told Bruce Prichard, and that's how the whole 'Thugonomics' run began.

Ribbing is a part of wrestling. That's the way they show a fondness for you - they play practical jokes on you. They put your wrestling gear in plastic bags and throw it in the shower. Just stupid stuff.

I never in my career did appearances, like where you go and sign autographs, and you do the comic-cons and all of that stuff, because I wanted, when I stopped wrestling, to go and do that stuff and have it really mean something to somebody, that it hadn't been watered down.

My brother and I loved to body-slam each other when we were kids. We tore up a lot of furniture.