"I expect to win. I've never been content with anything I've ever done."

"I had a long conversation with Steve Carlton. He told me that on the days he pitched, he felt it was his responsibility to make everyone around him better, to lift his teammates. That's what I try to do."

"I had a million-dollar arm, but I wasn't thinking enough about how to be a pitcher."

"I'm tired of people questioning me because of my age. If you looked at my numbers and watched me throw and covered my birthdate, would age be an issue?"

"I learned a lot from not having success, and realizing when you do have success, how hard it is to maintain it, and what you have to do to maintain it."

"I threw a lot of balls and walked a lot of batters. Not something I'm proud of, but something I learned from."

"I tried to work through it. By no means did I pitch with any comfort factor. But that's the kind of person I am, an overpaid athlete who tries to give something back." - About pitching through his back injury in 2006

"I've refined my mechanics, refined my pitches. I've gotten more confidence, and I've gotten more determination. I've got a better idea what I'm doing out there."

"It took me a while to get where I'm at, simply because I'm 6-10. I appreciate where I'm at. I realize I'm blessed."

"I was barely a .500 pitcher before my dad died and I got married and had a baby...my wife and baby brought me down to earth."

"Maybe I've lost a little, but I think everyone does over time. People have been writing that I'm getting old every year, and eventually they're going to be right. There's nobody in this game that's doing the same things they once did in the peak years of their career."

"Nolan Ryan helped me with baseball, and my dad passing away gave me a bigger heart."

"The big picture, obviously, is to get to the World Series. If you remain consistent and have a good year, it's kind of a bonus. This (winning his fifth Cy Young Award) has come from maintaining consistency, hard work and dedication, and my teammates being very supportive offensively, defensively and in the bullpen."

"The word 'potential' used to hang over me like a cloud."

"When I was younger and inexperienced, I was a very animated pitcher. I pitched with a lot of adrenaline. I was my own worst enemy when things weren't gong well."

"When you can throw 97 miles an hour and put the ball over the plate anytime you want, it's fun."

"When you win, you want more of it. You can't win enough."

"He has extraordinary balance in his delivery." - Billy Connors

"He is the number-one dominating pitcher in baseball. I don't even know who number two is." - Lou Piniella

"He pitches-he's not a thrower." - Joe Girardi

"He's a competitive and very proud athlete." - Bob Brenly

"He's just so dominating. Filthy, ridiculous, stupid-I've pretty much used every adjective I could possibly think of." - Damian Miller

"He's the total package." - Dan Plesac

"He was very coachable-he definitely wanted to learn." - Rod Dedeaux

"If anybody tells you they saw greatness in Randy Johnson [as a teenager], you better check his medication bottle." - Jethro McIntyre

"I guarantee you he'd been told everything Nolan and I told him a thousand times before. You have a tendency to listen when Nolan's talking." - Tom House

"It sounds crazy, but he's become a control pitcher. He throws 98 miles per hour right where he wants to. When you think about that, it's scary." - Todd Stottlemyre

"Randy carries his emotions on his sleeve. So when Randy gets pumped, it's pretty much wise to just go home. When he gets that look in his eyes. you know you're not going to get a hit off him." - Mark Grace

"The difference between championship teams and good teams every year seems to be two guys who pitch lights out in the postseason. Randy is one of those guys." - Mike Mussina

"The first pitch of the first inning, I thought, Wow, the Big Unit playing for us, the Astros!" - Jeff Bagwell

"The people that do what Randy has done, which is put all the pieces together, are few and far between." - Tom House

"When Randy pitched and we didn't win, it was unfathomable to me." - Curt Schilling