I created Evel Knievel, and then he sort of got away from me.
— Evel Knievel
You can be famous for a lot of things. You can be a Nobel-prize winner. You can be the fattest guy in the world.
You come to a point in your life when you really don't care what people think about you, you just care what you think about yourself.
This is a year and a few months after the transplant. Before I had it my doctors told me that it would be the biggest thing that I ever had to face and believe me, when they take your liver out of ya and put another one in it's like replacing a football in your stomach.
My wife and I, we like to ride where there's not much traffic.
If I'm out trailriding, I have a favorite motorcycle. Riding on the road, I've got a favorite. If I'm jumping, I have a favorite, and if I'm racing, I have a favorite.
I think through education, belief in God, and good engineering, our children become a lot better at what they're doing than we did, and that starts with the very first sign of life on the face of this earth.
I recently have had a full hip replacement and a liver transplant, and I'm getting used to the medication.
I know guys in my hometown that drive by feel and sound.
I am a lucky, lucky person.
There are a lot of myths about my injuries. They say I have broken every bone in my body. Not true. But I have broken 35 bones. I had surgery 14 times to pin and plate. I shattered my pelvis. I forget all of the things that have broke.
I love the feeling of the fresh air on my face and the wind blowing through my hair.
People pay a million dollars to be recognized, but nobody cares about them. They cared about me because I did things other men were afraid to do. That's why my fans identified with me.
When you're mad at someone, it's probably best not to break his arm with a baseball bat.
When I hit that pavement at 70 or 80 mph those suits just ripped.
The Harley's got a little too much torque when it comes to jumping.
My own judgment of how the world is gonna end is that there will be a country led by a madman that will build a nuclear bomb with so much force, so much power, that it will be dropped somewhere on the face of this earth and that the earth will lose its place.
I've been in a treatment center for drinkin'. I stayed for two days, then escaped.
I think these shows with the young kids doing these jumps, doing these fantastic back flips, I think they're absolutely great. They did what I never did.
I really think we should pass a law in every state, I don't care whether it takes the independence away from an old person or not. You shouldn't be driving a car if you're over the age of 80. Maybe even less than that.
I foresee the Chinese ruling the world. What are you going to do to stop it? No president of the United States will ever have enough power to stop the Chinese when they want to take over the world.
Harley-Davidson is the finest company in the world.
In the old days they, the promoters, wanted more and more from me. They wanted me to jump or spill my blood and break my bones. Every time they wanted me to jump further, and further, and further. Hell, they thought my bike had wings.
If you don't know about pain and trouble, you're in sad shape. They make you appreciate life.
Women are the root of all evil. I ought to know. I'm Evel.
Unless we do things in this country to slow down our population, slow down our birth control, provide better water for people, provide power for people, we're gonna find out that the next wars are not going to be fought over diamonds, gold and political things.
Riding a motorcycle on today's highways, you have to ride in a very defensive manner. You have to be a good rider and you have to have both hands and both feet on the controls at all times.
If you look at the Bible almost everything that was predicted, maybe everything, has come to pass.
I thought I was bulletproof or Superman there for a while. I thought I'd never run out of nerve. Never.
I think I coulda landed on a dime. I really do.
I know that I'm very lucky to be alive. For 35 or 40 years I've spilt my blood and broke my bones and spent years in hospitals.
I did everything by the seat of my pants. That's why I got hurt so much.
But you come to a point in your life when you can't pull the trigger anymore.
I guess I thought I was Elvis Presley but I'll tell ya something. All Elvis did was stand on a stage and play a guitar. He never fell off on that pavement at no 80 mph.