Top 63 Quotes & Sayings by Ayrton Senna

Being second is to be the first of the ones who lose.

Women - always in trouble with them, but can't live without them.

It was like I was in a tunnel. Not only the tunnel under the hotel but the whole circuit was a tunnel. I was just going and going, more and more and more and more. I was way over the limit but still able to find even more.

The danger sensation is exciting. The challenge is to find new dangers.

These things bring you to reality as to how fragile you are; at the same moment you are doing something that nobody else is able to do. The same moment that you are seen as the best, the fastest and somebody that cannot be touched, you are enormously fragile.

Because in a split second, it's gone.

Racing, competing, it's in my blood. It's part of me, it's part of my life; I have been doing it all my life and it stands out above everything else.

Money is a strange business. People who haven't got it aim it strongly. People who have are full of troubles.

I was already on pole, then by half a second and then one second and I just kept going. Suddenly I was nearly two seconds faster than anybody else, including my team mate with the same car.

I am not designed to come second or third. I am designed to win.

Because I believe in God and have faith in God, it doesn't mean I am immortal. It doesn't mean I am immune, as has been claimed. I am as scared as anyone of getting hurt, especially driving a Formula One car.

On a given day, a given circumstance, you think you have a limit.

I don't know driving in another way which isn't risky. Each one has to improve himself. Each driver has its limit. My limit is a little bit further than other's.

It's going to be a season with lots of accidents, and I'll risk saying that we'll be lucky if something really serious doesn't happen.

You will never know the feeling of a driver when winning a race. The helmet hides feelings that cannot be understood.

Then suddenly something just kicked me. I kind of woke up and realised that I was in a different atmosphere than you normally are. My immediate reaction was to back off, slow down.

I have no idols. I admire work, dedication and competence.

And suddenly I realised that I was no longer driving the car consciously. I was driving it by a kind of instinct, only I was in a different dimension.

There are no small accidents on this circuit.

Fear is exciting for me.

I continuously go further and further learning about my own limitations, my body limitation, psychological limitations. It's a way of life for me.

When you are fitted in a racing car and you race to win, second or third place is not enough.

My biggest error? Something that is to happen yet.

If you have God on your side, everything becomes clear.

You must take the compromise to win, or else nothing. That means: you race or you do not.

And so you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.

Wealthy men can't live in an island that is encircled by poverty. We all breathe the same air. We must give a chance to everyone, at least a basic chance.

Winning is the most important. Everything is consequence of that.

Of course there are moments that you wonder how long you should be doing it because there are other aspects which are not nice, of this lifestyle. But I just love winning.

Once you are in it you are in it, you have to go all the way to the end because you commit yourself to such a level where there is no compromise. You give everything you have absolutely everything. Sometimes you find even more because you require more if you want to stay ahead and you want to win.

Sometimes I try to beat other people's achievements but on many occasions I find it's better to beat my own achievements. That can give me more satisfaction. I don't feel happy if I am comfortable. Something inside me pushes me when I get comfortable. It makes me go farther and I want to keep pushing.

We are made of emotions, we are all looking for emotions, it's only a question of finding the way to experience them.

Pure driving, pure racing, that´s what makes me happy.

The main thing is to be yourself and not allow people to disturb you to be different, because they want you to be different. You gotta be yourself. Many times you throw a mistake due to your own personality or your own character or from interference that you get along the way then you learn, and the main thing is to learn from your mistakes and get better.

In many ways we are a dream for people, not a reality. That counts in your mind. It shows how much you can touch people, and as much as you can try to give those people somehow it is nothing compared to what they live in their own mind, in their dreams, for you.

Each driver has its limit. My limit is a little bit further than others.

By being a racing driver you are under risk all the time. By being a racing driver means you are racing with other people. And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver because we are competing, we are competing to win. And the main motivation to all of us is to compete for victory, it's not to come 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th. I race to win as long as I feel it's possible. Sometimes you get it wrong? Sure, it's impossible to get it right all the time. But I race designed to win, as long as I feel I'm doing it right.

I believe that we start to see our true personalities when we go through the most difficult moments. This is when we get stronger

I believe if you are doing something like competing, like motor racing, you either do well or forget it.

I cannot live on an island of prosperity when I'm surrounded by a sea of misery.

With regard to performance, commitment, effort, dedication, there is no middle ground. Or you do something very well or not at all.

The harder I push, the more I find within myself. I am always looking for the next step, a different world to go into, areas where I have not been before. It's lonely driving a Grand Prix car, but very absorbing. I have experienced new sensations, and I want more. That is my excitement, my motivation.

I started racing go-karts. And I love karts. It's the most breath taking sport in the world. More than F1, indeed, I used to like it most.

If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver.

We are made of emotions, we are all looking for emotions, it's only a question of finding the way to experience them. There are many different ways of experience them all. Perhaps one different thing, only that, one particular thing that Formula One can provide you, is that you know we are always expose to danger, danger of getting hurt, danger of dying.

As soon as you touch this limit, something happens and you suddenly can go a little bit further. With your mind power, your determination, your instinct, and the experience as well, you can fly very high.

The main thing is to be yourself. Many times its through a mistake that you learn. And the main thing is to make sure you learn through your mistakes and get better.

The past is just data. I only see the future.

By being a racing driver means you are racing with other people. And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver because we are competing, we are competing to win.

If a person has no dreams, they no longer have any reason to live. Dreaming is necessary, although in the dream reality should be glimpsed. For me this is a principle of life.

When a man holds you round the throat, I don't think he has come to apologise.

It's very hard to win without any problems. To win, you have to fight. And many times, this fight means to indispose in certain ways with some people, to prevail your beliefs. Your point of view, your ideas and your personality above everything. If you don`t fight hard, you lose your own way. And if you lose your own way, you`re nobody. So, to achieve this line of conduct, you have to fight very hard. And in many times, you really have to fight.

Just because I believe in God, just because I have faith in God, it doesn't mean that I'm immune. It doesn't mean that I'm immortal.

When you're not happy, you need to be strong to change, resisting the temptation of turning back. The weak goes nowhere

Whoever you are, no matter what social position you have, rich or poor, always show great strength and determination, and always do everything with much love and deep faith in God. One day you will reach your goal.

I want to live fully, very intensely. I would never want to live partially, suffering from illness or injury. If I ever happen to have an accident that eventually costs my life, I hope it happens in one instant.

It's important that the drivers stay together, because in difficult moments we have each other. If we are not together the financial and political interests of the organisers and constructors come to the fore.

Nothing can separate me from the love of God.

You commit yourself to such a level where there is no compromise. You give everything you have, everything, absolutely everything.

I believe in the ability of focusing strongly in something, then you are able to extract even more out of it. It's been like this all my life, and it's been only a question of improving it, and learning more and more and there is almost no end. As you go through you just keep finding more and more. It's very interesting, it's fascinating.