Top 99 Quotes & Sayings by Garrett McNamara

I've got a really amazing ability to forget and disregard information that comes in my brain.

I broke ribs three different times.

If you get under water, you're at the mercy of our team coming in and getting us before we get another one on the head, and another one on the head, and another one. Or, we have to be able to handle it, and that's where our trainer and our coaches and our people who help us stay fit come into play, the other part of the team.

Riding big waves was my passion.

Well, it was - big wave surfing was my job. And I had to accomplish some great feat every year. And we kept finding bigger and bigger waves until there was no wave too big.

When you're underwater getting pounded, you are at the mercy of the ocean.

Nothing I've achieved in my life has ever come about because of alcohol.

I wanted to be the first to ride a 100-foot wave.

I used to not care if I died, but once I married and had children and became part of a big surfing community, that changed.

I haven't been afraid in awhile, but whenever I am, I get a rush.

It didn't matter if we didn't have new bikes and skateboards and a nice car, and a lot of food in the fridge. We were in the ocean just enjoying life to the fullest.

I'd become the little surfer in my childhood drawings.

I always say it's not how big the wave is, it's how you ride it.

When I'm riding a wave and making it, it's just like, 'Alright, yeah, another wave.' But when you're getting pounded and thrown in every direction, when you have no control, you really feel alive.

Nazare is a special place for me; we got married right there, at the lighthouse. The seafood and wine are amazing. Best of all, there are no sharks: they are much more scary than a big wave.

It's just the most amazing feeling to be out there in the water riding waves. It's like walking on the water.

The scariest part is when you are coming down the wave and there is all this water coming down the wave and your feet are coming out of the straps.

I keep trying to listen when I'm in a big wave, but I really don't hear anything.

Now I know that if I surf without expectations and have a map for making my passion my life's plan, I'm always in the present and smiling.

I caught every wave I wanted and I fell in love with big waves at 16 years old. Then it just was bigger and bigger from there.

I have two settings: full speed and stop.

After I made my comeback in 2002 and won the Jaws Tow-In World Cup, the eyes of the surfing world were on me in a way they'd never been before.

When you wipe out, all you can do is let the wave take you and stay calm until you can come up for air.

I love being underwater.

If you look at the statistics, it's a lot more dangerous to ride down a highway than a big wave.

Fear is when we're thinking about the past or thinking about the future, two things that do not exist. If we stay in the moment, do our best in the moment, enjoy the moment, there is no fear.

Half the people think I'm out of my mind... and half are just - I think they all think I'm crazy, actually.

The first time I tried surfing, we went out in front of Cement City and I just remember falling in love. It just instantly became all I wanted to do.

You won't catch me riding a horse, because I'm afraid of them.

If I have days that don't feel great, I didn't read that morning.

If you have the ocean and you have your board, nothing matters.

I can be sittin' at home in Hawaii and see the biggest swell of the year coming here and be so happy and just say, 'No, I'm happy right here.'

I went to Alaska a while back and surfed the waves generated from a glacier calving and ever since then, I've never been afraid in the ocean.

I hope to be able to keep surfing as long as I'm alive.

I don't wanna say I'm growing up, but I definitely feel content.

I read 'The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success' every day. The first time I read it, I was 35, depressed, and about to quit surfing.

We didn't have much money and my mom scrounged up $15 and bought us a surf board at a yard sale.

So, when you come down a big wave and everything's perfect, you make it to the shoulder and you kick out. But, when you come down and it closes out or you fall on the way down, then this massive, basically like an avalanche. just lands on you and it feels like a ton of bricks.

Surfing is cleansing, pure and beautiful; it's where I feel most comfortable.

I've always had very comfortable experiences under the water. I've enjoyed them all.

I lived for big waves. It's where I felt comfortable and I could surf with ease. With smaller waves, it didn't feel as natural.

The surfers' code is that you surf your wave and let the world discuss it as you move on to the next one.

I'd always surfed with my ego - I had to get the biggest, best wave - and a lot of it was for survival.

Follow your heart and fear does not exist.

My mother married this guy, his name was Darryl. And he was moving us to Hawaii. And he was a musician. He was working with Don Ho's daughter, actually. And then he ended up meeting some girl, left my mom, and me and my mother and brother were stuck in Waialua at Cement City. It was pretty much the armpit of Oahu.

In the beginning of my career, I loved the fear because if I was afraid, then I was going to get the rush. Your endorphins get released when you're afraid. So whenever I would surf, I would be looking for the rush.

I tend to get overly excited and want to just go. I just love, love big waves.

Usually, I lead with my heart and feel my way through.

If you have fear then it means you are not living in the moment.

It's so amazing to just be in the water, surfing with your friends.

All these waves are just so fun to ride and are normal to me.

In Nazare, the ocean is known as a place of death, not of riding waves.

I love getting pounded. It makes me feel more alive.

The pursuit has just been to find the 100-foot wave.

To ride big waves you have to be ready mentally, physically and spiritually.

It really is never too late, it really is never too early to figure out your goals and dreams and what you love.

The ocean is my church and my playground, and it's where I love to be. It's where I belong.

I've probably had the worst wipeouts in surfing, and I've enjoyed every one of them.

And, you know, I think all of us surfers, our happy place, the place we like more than anywhere on the wave is in the barrel.

I'm not an adrenaline junkie; I won't jump out of aeroplanes and I'm afraid of horses. I just love surfing.