When I look in the mirror, I don't see a person who's made the kind of impact that Mia Hamm made on the game. She's still my idol, the greatest player and the greatest teammate. She achieved so much in so many different ways. What she did for women's soccer can't be measured.
Abby Wambach
In real life I don't chant. Nor do I believe in idol worship.
Abhay Deol
My first album after 'American Idol' I did with Desmond - we paid for it together, and we literally were together working on it every day for a year and half, just writing. We wrote in New York, Nashville, L.A., Sweden - we wrote with some other amazing songwriters like Diane Warren, too.
Ace Young
'American Idol' opened up all the doors to where I am now.
I remember, when I was young, I had idols who inspired me to go for my dreams, and I just want to give the same back.
Ada Hegerberg
The biggest risk I've ever taken is going on American Idol and trying to be myself. I wasn't going to try too hard to conform, and I knew that it could possibly not work out.
Adam Lambert
There's a certain level of pageantry with 'Idol,' and in order to work the show, you kind of have to feed into it.
Growing up as a kid my father was British and a soccer player. His idol was a guy that passed the ball a lot, Stanley Matthews. Our family thought if you could be unselfish your teammates would always like you.
Adam Oates
John Barnes was my idol growing up and he's the reason I've supported Liverpool. I play nothing like him, though!
Adebayo Akinfenwa
I grew up, and I'm getting the chance to make music with the people I idolized.
Adrian Younge
When artists die early, they become idols even more.
Agnes Varda
I'd love to have tea and scones with the Queen; she's my idol.
Agyness Deyn
An idol of the mind is as offensive to God as an idol of the hand.
Aiden Wilson Tozer
When I was growing up, I idolised my father. I thought his ghost followed me around the house. I had been told how he adored me, how I was funny, just like him. Because of our lovely Catholic upbringing, I secretly assumed that he would eventually come back, like our good friend Jesus.
Aisling Bea
When I was really little, I wanted to be a wrestler so I could be like the girls I looked up to. My brother then told me that 'You don't want to be like your idols; you want to grow up and be better than them.' To this day, that's the best piece of advice I've ever gotten.
AJ Lee
Wheresoever thou findest a high mountain or a lofty hill and a green tree, know that an idol is there!
Akiva ben Joseph
Right when I started in show... Milton Berle was my first idol. When I was a kid, I went to see Milton at Lowe's State, and I never laughed so much, and I said, 'That's who I want to be; that's what I want to be.'
Alan King
I've been very lucky. I've written for most of my idols and the contemporaries.
Alan Zweibel
Everyone should be respected as an individual, but no one idolized.
Albert Einstein
Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized.
I couldn't sing without a guitar. I like the way it feels to sing and be holding a guitar, even if I'm not playing it that much. All my idols that I grew up liking always had a guitar on them, but they didn't play it - Buddy Holly, John Lennon, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello. It's like having a partner with you.
I idolised former sprint and hurdling champion Colin Jackson.
One day, I would like to have my own chat show. Oprah is my idol because she uses her platform so responsibly.
I see my uncle as an idol, someone I have always looked up to as a footballer.
It wasn't until 1999 when my idols Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly took home the women's World Cup trophy at the Rose Bowl in front of 40 million TV viewers that I remember thinking how rare it was to see women play sports on TV.
To act alongside a TV idol of mine, Peter Krause, was phenomenal. I watched him in 'Six Feet Under,' I watched him on 'Dirty Sexy Money' and I'll carry on watching him, and I've been lucky enough to be a part of that world with him.
My father is my idol. He supports me all the time. He has given me the way to life.
You can never connect on a deeper level if you idolise someone - you don't see the real person.
Playing in Milan for me meant being able to play alongside players who were idols to me as a kid. Playing alongside David Beckham - his long passes are perfect for me.
Kurt Russell... he is a bloody legend. I have idolised him, and to chill with him on the sets while shooting was an incredible experience.
Any person I idolise, or I really admire their work, I want to beat them... For me, going through my years, I made sure to idolise myself... So when you're in a race, you have to make sure that you think you are the favourite to win. You have to have that confidence.
When someone asks if you want to play Brittany Murphy, who you idolized as a child and grew up loving and who you wanted to be, you can't say no. Even if it's the most terrifying thing someone asks you to do.
I auditioned for 'American Idol' at 17. They told me, 'No.'
I grew up idolising Madhuri Dixit, though I wasn't a Hindi film buff. I had an academic upbringing, and movies were a rarity. I looked up to Madhuri because I loved dancing, and she's a fantastic dancer.
I personally have a silver idol of Lord Ganesh that I reuse every year. Don't measure your devotion with the size of the idol.
Though it is perhaps expected for the bishop of Rome to warn against the idolatry of money, what is striking is how Francis suggests that not only God but also secular politics must outrank economic imperatives.
My idols are singers like Billie Holiday and Erykah Badu because there's no gloss on what they do.
Look at 'American Idol,' which I don't look at. Those winners haven't become household names except for Jennifer Hudson, and she was a reject. You can't aim to be a household name. You just have to be successful.
I was so busy with my studies that I didn't have a musical idol as a teenager. Later, around my 20s, I suddenly discovered the Beatles and the Rolling Stones but I guess my musical idol has always been Strauss.
It's cool for young guys to see what their idols are doing.
My idol has been Franco Corelli. But every singer can teach you something.
On a personal level, my mom is my biggest inspiration. She's always been an idol for me. I used to dream about growing up and being like her.
In the past, I had my idols but today I enjoy learning from all the soccer I watch.
I have no interest in being known as a celebrity; 'celebrity' is a pretty disgusting word. It's part of the brainwashing of the culture, part of the false idolatry of those that are only human, and I don't want to participate in that.
Sometimes things can be a guilty pleasure, but with 'Idol,' everyone talks about it like it's a real thing; they argue over who's gonna win... There's no laughing at it.
I am classified as an idol in Hong Kong and in Asia.
Richard Burton is my number one idol. One, because we come from very similar backgrounds and two, because of his fantastic talent.
For me as a Welsh actor, Richard Burton is one of my biggest idols. And I've got so many: Peter O'Toole, Laurence Olivier and Oliver Reed. If they got 'Hunky Dory' and 'Citadel' offered to them, they would do completely different jobs on both of them.
Families are nothing other than the idolatry of duty.
io9 was the last standalone site that Gawker Media ever launched. It was born at a time when many of the company's other famous sites, from Consumerist and Wonkette to Fleshbot and Idolator, were being sold off or shuttered.
