Top 73 Quotes & Sayings by Niki Lauda

I always knew about the risks I was taking. Every year, someone you knew was killed racing. You had to ask yourself, do you enjoy driving these cars so much that you're prepared to take that risk?

The idea that people would work on themselves, who hadn't had an accident - I can't stand plastic surgery.

I always go extreme ways.

Running an airline is the most difficult job in the world. Racing was more dangerous for my life.

One of the things that gave me most pleasure was a letter sent to me by Sebastian Vettel, written in his own hand, full of beautiful words and kindness. I wasn't expecting this; usually, drivers don't do this: they drive, and that's it. But he is a beautiful person.

I hate being famous. You have no freedom. You can't do anything.

I fought my grandfather like you wouldn't believe. I went my own way and decided to become a racing driver. I don't think I would ever have fought as hard as I did if my grandfather had been a reasonable person.

Running an airline is a normal job. Racing is more.

Pressure is always on if you don't perform. There is no question.

There are some good traditions in our culture, one of which is that men dance with women. Soon we will reach the stage where we will all have to publicly apologise for being heterosexual.

In Germany air became generally accepted Berlin in this area. It operated with 45 airplanes within the Low Cost range from Germany, and is one the most successful carriers in Europe.

People always think that the worst time of my life must have been after the German Grand Prix crash in 1976, which put me in a coma and left me with severe burns. But it wasn't.

The alliance with air Berlin is attractive for me. I can use the whole sales network of the air Berlin and 24 percent of my own airline at air Berlin sold.

After my accident, I never worried about how I looked.

When I was in motor racing, I had taken the decision to risk my life. But when you run an airline, and more than 200 people want to go from A to B - and they don't arrive - that's a different responsibility.

Giving up is something a Lauda doesn't do.

People say that F1 is blessed with the 'best drivers in the world,' but I want to witness the 'total best drivers in the world,' and this means taking away the elements that make their job easier.

My life is worth more than a title.

We have moved away from basic racing, where you see how the drivers fight with the cars to their physical limits and then make mistakes - or not.

I employ 20 people in Vienna. The other 130 coworkers are pilots and flight companions. The Overhead is limited with me. Reduces naturally the costs of my fliers.

I like the mode of business of aviation. It's a risky business with difficulties which you can fill with innovative ideas and different things.

Cosmetic surgery - it's boring and expensive, and the only thing it could do is give me another face.

Vienna is the gate to Eastern Europe.

There is no friendship out there. When you race, you have to fight. That's it.

Patience is a virtue in life, of course, but it's not something we F1 people have too much of.

For sure, when you are being beaten by your team-mate, it hurts.

When, after the accident, I came out into the world and people looked at me, they were shocked. It upset me. I thought they were impolite not to hide their negative emotions about my look.

This aircraft tops everything. All the others look old as compared to this one.

Millions around the world see Formula One as the pinnacle of motorsport, and I firmly believe that we should do whatever it takes to keep this accolade. Traction control, automatic gear changes, and launch control isn't my definition of the 'pinnacle of motorsport.'

We now fly with an airbus, which has 210 seats, six times the week to Palma to the spider of the air Berlin.

The crucial point is always the own cost structure. Therefore I created a Low Cost alliance with air Berlin.

The guest gets at least as much service with us as with some established airline, if not even more. And at by far a favourable price. Thus the passengers remain gladly with us.

I've learnt from my life experience.

In racing, you want to win - there are no rules, and you can do whatever you want. Flying a plane is the opposite: you respect rules and fly to the rules. You can't possibly compare the two.

Airlines go in the long run at the competition to reason. For the passenger the competition is good, because each competitor tries to undercut the other one.

I don't want to sound like a retrospective person stuck in the past, but the fact remains that, in my day, everything was in the hands of the driver - the gear changes, the delicate art of clutch control during race starts, managing engine revs during gear changes - everything.

I want to bring passengers on my airplanes to present to them my product.

You must always be faster and better than the others.

Don't talk too much, be focused on the goal and achieve it.

To make a decision you need to be in a perfect environment: you have to be motivated and surrounded by the right people.

Happiness is an enemy. It weakens you. Suddenly, you have something to lose.

I've been through a lot and I realise the future can't be controlled. I'm not worried. You can always learn to overcome difficulties.

The less you talk, the more time you have for the essential things.

You appreciate that it is very easy to die and you have to arrange your life to cope with that reality.

Taking your first title is much more complicated and more difficult; it takes years of work - from go-kart to Formula One. The second comes more easily, because you've already got the experience.

You have a brake in your brain that stops you doing stupid things. The older you are, the earlier that brake comes on. When you're 20 you stop at nothing; when you're older you're cleverer than when you're 20, so your brain brake operates more often!

Whenever I see something that challenges me, I take it on.

To be honest, it is boring to talk about winning.

Whenever there is discussion, I make it clear that I do not want any grey zones, just black and white.

I see myself as the mind of the business which takes care of every last detail; if you do not do this you cannot be fast enough.

When you have the chance to fight for victory or a podium finish, you have the motivation to push that extra bit out of yourself.

I maintain that the maxim is still to be faster than the others.

I was not interested at all in Formula One when I left; I was very busy with my airline. But slowly I started missing the adrenaline rush and the driving of such fantastic cars at the limit. In reality this urge never disappears when you're a top driver, because I think we're a different breed of people, we need to take chances, we need to push ourselves to the limit all the time, that sort of thing. It stays with you, although you can kill it by losing motivation or other things in your life, but it never leaves you forever.

If you are a straightforward racing driver you should always see your limits. You have to be objective and not come up with any bullshit.

A lot of people criticize Formula 1 as an unnecessary risk. But what would life be like if we only did what is necessary?

Really, you should always discuss the defeats because you can learn much more from failure than from success.

You must always aim for further growth.

From success, you learn absolutely nothing. From failure and setbacks conclusions can be drawn. That goes for your private life as well as your career.

A race isn't won until it's over.

Jean Todt's system will never succeed, not even with Michael Schumacher.