There's no greater feeling in the world than when you can put a smile on somebody's face just by walking into a room. It's unbelievable. And if I have that power, who am I to waste it, you know?
J. J. Watt
If you don't have that vision for the end goal, you have no clue where you're going, and you're going to work very hard to go nowhere.
What I remember most about high school are the memories I created with my friends.
I will always do what I can to help others, but when I retire, I want to be a dad and a husband. I want a house and a dog in the yard. I want to have barbecues.
A reputation takes years and years and years to build, and it takes one press of a button to ruin it. Don't let that happen to you. You've done so much work; you've put in so much effort. Don't let one moment ruin your entire life because you wanted to be funny or you were mad or because you had a mood.
I'm a Wisconsin kid, so I like brats and burgers and stuff like that. Cheese curds.
If you're going to nap, make sure you have a proper chunk of time blocked out. I'm not one of these guys that does the 15-20 minute nap. I don't play those games. I'm, like, an hour minimum. I'm not gonna lay down unless I know I have at least an hour.
I'll fight a bear, but I don't like spiders. I'm not a fan of those.
It's hard to understand the life that I live and rationalize some of the things that I do. I don't need someone questioning every move that I make, asking me why I don't just relax. When there's no one asking me those types of questions... to me, it's peaceful.
Houston is kind of a melting pot. There are many different cultures and ethnicities represented out there, even on my team. It's really cool: you'll see so many different things.
A sack is way better than any nightclub. A touchdown is way better than any bar experience I've ever had.
I'm sure I frustrate the trainers - in fact, I know I frustrate the trainers to no end. But I think there's a very fine line. I listen to their advice. I take their medical expertise very seriously. But then I also, the reason I am where I am, the reason I play the way I play, is because I push beyond normal.
My family is a middle-class family. When I grew up and learned how much it actually cost for us to play hockey, I could not believe that my parents let us play as long as they did.
Each year, I write out a goal sheet with what I expect. If I showed anybody else my goal sheet, they would have said I was crazy.
I love brunch. Brunch is my favorite meal.
If you want to be remembered as great, if you want to be a legend, you have to go out there every single day and do stuff.
Hockey, honestly, was my first love. The excitement, the fast pace, the intensity of the game... I still love it to this day.
When you're in the National Football League, and you get this window where all eyes are on you, you can use that. You can use that platform for good.
Since my sophomore year in high school, I knew I didn't want to do anything but be a professional athlete. I knew when I got to college there was no way anybody was going to stop me from being an NFL player.
My cheat meals aren't even that exciting.
When it comes down to that moment, when it's me against you, you know in your head whether you worked hard enough. You can try to lie to yourself. You can try to tell yourself that you put in the time. But you know - and so do I.
Part of me wants nothing to do with any Hollywood. But another part of me wants to go there. I feel like I could be successful at it.
I get a lot of letters that say, 'I'm a normal, down-to-earth girl. I love to cook, and I love sports.' What I also get are letters from a whole bunch of moms saying, 'My daughter is awesome,' and, 'My daughter is a great daughter.'
I know that I have probably an eight- to 10-year window in this league, and if I want to be what I say I want to be, then I have to commit myself 100 percent.
I love the Stanley Cup playoffs.
There's gonna be people that don't like you, regardless. But I take on the mentality of, 'Look, I'm gonna do whatever I want to do. If people don't like, they don't like it.'
You don't know who wants you for you, who wants you for the money, who wants you for the fame. You have no idea. And how would you know? There's no way.
A quarterback is always going to be the most valuable player on a football field because he touches the ball every single offensive play.
If you're thinking like that - 'Does this person want me for me?' - then you're gonna have a hell of a hard time falling in love, 'cause you're constantly thinking about what they look like on paper.
My parents would definitely be my childhood heroes.
I'm not strict on my calorie count; I just pay attention to my body.
I grew up in Wisconsin loving hockey. I mean, I started when I was three years old on skates.
I feel like, growing up, I watched football, obviously, and you see great players, and as a fan, you want to watch the best you can possibly watch, and you want to see what's capable of being made.
One of the things I have to do, and I'm working on it, is making sure I enjoy the ride along the way. I have to remind myself, 'Take a look around, look at things, and enjoy it.'
When I picture myself after football, it's down home, coaching high school football, just a relaxing, normal life.
People like to see a guy being built up; they like to see a guy go from the bottom to the top, but then once you're on the top for a little bit, people wait to see you fail, and they want you to fail, so they find flaws and they find reasons, whether it's being too nice or trying to make you out to be fake - that's what they do.
I don't get bothered by fans.
I want a girl who's passionate, driven - a girl who believes in herself.
My dad was a firefighter for almost 30 years. My mom worked her way up from a secretary to vice president of her own company. They taught me to work hard for everything and take nothing for granted. That's how I play.
I never want to let a day go by without having done something to get a little better.
It sounds weird when you complain about having to eat so much, but it's like a job.
I know that I'm going out there, and I know that I am going to get hit in the head. I know that's part of football. That's like a firefighter knowing he is going to go into a fire at some point. You know you are going to be put in danger's way, and you accept that risk, and you do it.
It's a very violent game, and bodies take a beating, so you want to make sure you do everything you can to get your body back. It's just something you have to do.
Teams are always hitting me in the gut, trying to grab me when I jump and stuff like that. But I expect it.
When budget cuts happen - which has been happening a lot in this country - after-school athletics and after-school music are some of the first things to go.
It's pretty neat to be able to help the team in different ways.
I actually have no style whatsoever. I'm the worst. I have people I talk to, and I say, 'Please tell me how to dress because I don't know what I'm doing.' The biggest thing for me is my mom. I'm like, 'Mom, do I look good?' If she says yes, I'm good to go.
Over the years, I've learned a lot about nutrition and about myself, so it's a lot more based on feel. I stopped putting a number on it because people were analyzing it too much.
I'm a kid who grew up working hard.
You have to find the right situation, and you have to be in that right mindset where you can give everything you have to that. Because whatever I do, I want to be the best at. I want to be the best husband. I want to be the best father.
