Born on September 11th

"I thought: This is not racing, it's a suicide mission."

"I decided there and then to sue the bastards."

"Endless motorbike talk can and does bore me."

"I race in two or three classic races a year and I may carry on for 10 more years or I may stop tomorrow."

"It wasn't about the money. I just wanted them to admit it was their fault."

"It's not as if there's a noise problem, because they use the same circuits as Formula One."

"Nobody within motorcycling has or deserves any respect."

"They were ridiculous times. After I won my world championship in 1976, I went to Japan."

"I vowed I would do everything I could to stop the Isle of Man counting towards the world championship. And it was stopped, so they love me in the Isle of Man."

"I'd get to within a yard of that door you walk through and the thing would go mad. I used to carry an X-ray in my briefcase, to show them. But I had all the metal taken out."

"I am Syrian, I was made in Syria, I have to live in Syria and die in Syria."

"Worry does not mean fear, but readiness for the confrontation."

"When Lebanon started its resistance it was a small and divided country."

"It would be a mistake to link anything that Israel does to a certain circumstance. And it is a mistake to feel comfortable in any circumstance just because Israel did not act on it."

"None of us and none of the Arabs trust Israel."

"When we analyze this war in a materialistic way and ask when is it going to end and who will be the winner and the loser, it means that we do not see the endgame."

"Armies are not only for offensives."

"Israel does not care about the international public opinion."

"No doubt that the U.S. is a super-power capable of conquering a relatively small country, but is it able to control it?"

"You in Lebanon, your power is no match to Israel. Israel, militarily, is more powerful than you and maybe it is more powerful than all the Arab countries, or most of them."

"It should be known that Israel is based on treachery."

"You cannot reform your society or institution without opening your mind."

"Israeli interests are not necessarily in harmony with the American interests."

"We have more difficult circumstances than most of the Arab countries but in spite of that Syria is stable. Why? Because you have to be very closely linked to the beliefs of the people. This is the core issue."

"We are dealing with treachery and threats, which accompanied the establishment of Israel."

"The problem with the West is that they start with political reform going towards democracy. If you want to go towards democracy, the first thing is to involve the people in decision making, not to make it."

"I am not a puppet. I was not made by the West to go to the West or to any other country."

"Is there an equality of power between America and Iraq? Definitely not; however, the Iraqi people are standing fast and are defending their land courageously."

"As far as we are concerned, we Syria have not changed."

"Despite the ethnic diversity within each nation, the social fabric of the region by and large is one."