For me, it was the right decision to go to United, because going to the top of the mountain was my dream, especially when you come from Eastern Europe, from a small town, and no one's done it before you.
Like Nemanja Vidic, I came from a small town in a small country in Eastern Europe, but we had reached the top.
Coming from a small town it was tough to dream big. When I grew up in a small town in Georgia, my biggest dream was one day to be able to go to Atlanta.
I'm not from the heart of Atlanta, I'm from the Eastern outskirts. Stone Mountain is the town - Gambino is from there, Danger Mouse is from there. So there's a lot more greenery, lakes and a mountain you can climb everyday - all kinds of stuff that I'm into. I wear sandals, or a harness - I'm prepared to be outdoors because that's just how I am.
Last year was a tough decision for me, to end my season so short. But it was the right decision for me, because right now I feel great. I can go out here and sprint full speed right now, but I'm just going to pace myself for April 5.
I come from a very small place in Eastern Europe, so my whole life has kind of been one big fight to live my dream against all odds. But I think it's hard to be a human in general - we all have our own struggles and things to overcome. That's why it's so important to always have compassion.
If you're in a small town somewhere and you can go and visit Paris, you can go to the top of Everest, that's just cool. It's worth it because you become more educated in something.
We accept that, in one way now, if you are 27, 28 and still playing for Ajax, you are probably not good enough for the top of Europe because players want to go to the top in Europe.
I don't think that within a certain amount of time we can get rid of all nuclear weapons. But I do believe that, step by step, we could get others to join us. I call it going up the mountain. We can get to the top eventually, but we have to get to base camp first. Right now, we are in the valley. So we have a long way to go, but maybe our children or our grandchildren will see the top of the mountain.
With a small town mentality, you make a decision very early on as to whether you are going to do everything by the book or just go your own way and not care.
When I started working in human rights, Eastern Europe was communist, South Africa was under apartheid and South Korea had military rule. All the changes have come about not because of the militaries or government but because small groups of people spoke out against what was unfair and unjust.
An All-American is an ordinary person with an extraordinary desire to excel. You don't get to the top of the mountain by just dreaming. It's nice to dream. But it's the work ethic and pride that makes you get to that mountain top and that level of success.
I'd heard Dallas described as a 'big, small town' before, even before I moved. As a kid from an actual small town in Iowa, I was never sure what to make of the description.
The laws imposed by Brussels damage Italian artisans, traders, pensioners, but hey, Europe is asking, so we have to obey. Come on, if Europe asks me to throw myself in a well, I'm not going to do that just because Europe is asking me to, am I?
You've got to make a decision: Are you going to go down with the situation, or are you going to focus and succeed? My dream...kept me going.
I grew up in a small town where you know everyone, .. I've been told all my life that I come from too small a town to compete with some of the guys that competed in a higher level growing up. And that kind of drove me through college and drove me in the minor leagues, because I got to face all those big 5- A [school district] guys in the minors.
Being an adult, you've already suffered enough from your own mistakes, and the world, to come to this as a humble human being. So it's not like, "I'm going to do the right thing because it advances me," as much as it's like, "I'm going to do the right thing because this puts me closest to the dream I had as a 10-year-old kid."